- For the moon of Saturn, see Mimas (moon).
The
Saturn I (pronounced "Saturn one") was the United States' first
heavy-lift dedicated space launcher, a
rocket designed specifically to launch large
payloads into
low Earth orbit. Most of the rocket's power came from a clustered lower stage consisting of tanks taken from older rocket designs strapped together to make a single large booster, leading critics to jokingly refer to it as "Cluster's
Last Stand". However, its design proved sound and very flexible. Its major successes were launching the
Pegasus satellites and flight verification of the
Apollo Command and Service Module aerodynamics in the launch phase. Originally intended as a near-universal military booster during the 1960s, it served only for a brief period and only with
NASA; ten Saturn I rockets were flown before it was replaced by the derivative
Saturn IB, which featured a more powerful upper stage and improved instrumentation.