On this day in space: Feb. 26, 1966: 1st launch of Saturn 1B rocket

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On Feb. 26, 1966, NASA launched its new Saturn IB rocket on its first test flight.

On Feb. 26, 1966, NASA launched its new Saturn IB rocket on its first test flight.

NASA's first Saturn 1B rocket launches into space carrying the first Apollo spacecraft on Feb. 26, 1966.

An artist's illustration of Western Union's massive Westar 4 communications satellite in orbit. It launched on Feb. 25, 1982. (Image credit: NASA)

NASA used the Saturn IB for flight tests early on in the Apollo program, but this type of rocket never actually launched astronauts to the moon. For that, they used an even more powerful rocket, the Saturn V.

The first flight of the Saturn IB was uncrewed. Among other things, the mission tested the rocket's propulsion, guidance and electrical systems.

On This Day in Space: See our full 365-day video archive!

Hanneke Weitering
Hanneke Weitering
Contributing expert

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos. 

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