Saturn rocket First flight of the Saturn rocket during the Apollo mission on th November This unmanned mission was designed to test the viability of the enormous Saturn rocket as a launch vehicle for the planned Moon landings This Saturn rocket was over metres tall and weighed over million kilograms Much of this weight was the fuel which was burnt at a prodigious rate to achieve the escape velocity of over kilometres per second This is the speed required to overcome Earths gravity and reach orbit The Apollo mission ended just over hours after launch with the successful recovery of the landing craft from the Pacific Ocean