Saturn I SA-3

Saturn-Apollo 3 (SA-3) was the third flight of the Saturn I launch vehicle, the second flight of Project Highwater, and was part of the American Apollo program. The rocket was launched on November 16, 1962, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

History

The Saturn I launch vehicle components were delivered to Cape Canaveral by the barge Promise on September 19, 1962, but erection of the first-stage booster onto its launch pedestal was delayed until September 21 due to a tropical depression that moved over the Florida peninsula. The dummy second and third stages (S-IV and S-V) and payload were assembled on the booster on September 24.Ballast water was loaded into the dummy stages on October 31, and the RP-1 fuel was loaded on November 14.

For this launch, Cape Canaveral director Kurt Debus asked Marshall Space Flight Center director Wernher von Braun, who was overseeing the Saturn project, that no outside visitors be allowed on NASA grounds due to the ongoing tensions of the Cuban missile crisis.