Where to see a Saturn V today
To see a Saturn V you need to visit the United States, where three complete rockets are on display, all lying horizontally with their stages slightly separated. They are at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the Apollo/Saturn V Center at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville also has a full-size replica standing upright.
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Why only three?
Fifteen flight Saturn Vs were ordered and thirteen were launched between 1967 and 1973, as the table of Saturn V launches shows. The cancellation of Apollo 18 to 20 left two complete vehicles unused, SA-514 and SA-515, plus the third stage of SA-513, freed when that rocket launched Skylab without an S-IVB. Several stages built for ground testing also survived. NASA combined these pieces to make up the three rockets displayed today.
Houston: the Johnson Space Center Saturn V
The Houston rocket is the most "authentic" of the three: it is made up entirely of flight stages, built to fly but never launched, drawn mainly from SA-514 and SA-515. Displayed outdoors in the center's Rocket Park from 1977, it suffered for years from Texas heat and humidity. A full restoration took place in the mid-2000s, and since 2007 it has been housed in a purpose-built climate-controlled building.
Johnson Space Center is home to Mission Control for human spaceflight. The rocket is reached from the Space Center Houston visitor center on the tram tour of the NASA site. Visitors can walk its full length, from the F-1 engines to the escape tower.
Florida: the Apollo/Saturn V Center at Kennedy
At Kennedy Space Center, where every Saturn V lifted off, the rocket fills a vast hall, the Apollo/Saturn V Center, opened in 1996. Its first stage is the S-IC-T, the test stage used for static firings; the upper stages are unflown flight stages. Before the hall was built, the rocket spent years outdoors near the Vehicle Assembly Building.
The exhibit also recreates the firing room from which the missions were launched, with original consoles, and displays the Apollo 14 command module, Kitty Hawk. It is reached by bus from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, a route that passes the Vehicle Assembly Building with views toward Pads 39A and 39B, where the Saturn Vs launched. The visitor complex's Rocket Garden also holds an unflown Saturn IB.
Huntsville: SA-500D, von Braun's test rocket
Huntsville is where Wernher von Braun's team designed the Saturn V, at Marshall Space Flight Center. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center there displays SA-500D, a dynamic test vehicle: never meant to fly, it was used in 1966–1967 to study the rocket's vibration and bending modes in a special test stand at Marshall. Restored, it has been displayed indoors since 2008 in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, raised above visitors' heads. It is a National Historic Landmark.
Outside, a full-scale replica has stood upright since 1999, erected for the 30th anniversary of Apollo 11. Visible from far away, it is the only way to see a Saturn V vertical, as it stood on the launch pad.
The three compared
| Site | Made from | Display | Indoors since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson Space Center, Houston | unflown flight stages (SA-514, SA-515) | horizontal, dedicated building | 2007 |
| Kennedy Space Center, Florida | S-IC-T test stage plus flight stages | horizontal, Apollo/Saturn V Center | 1996 |
| U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville | SA-500D dynamic test vehicle | horizontal, raised, Davidson Center | 2008 |
Other pieces worth seeing
Other hardware is worth the trip even if it is not a complete rocket. At the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the backup Skylab Orbital Workshop, a converted S-IVB that never flew, lets you step inside a Saturn V stage, and the museum also holds Apollo 11's command module Columbia. Near Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, the INFINITY Science Center displays an S-IC first stage. Individual F-1 engines are shown at several US museums, and the Museum of Flight in Seattle exhibits F-1 fragments recovered from the Atlantic in 2013.
To our knowledge, no complete Saturn V is displayed outside the United States. To see how these rockets compare with today's launchers, read Saturn V vs SLS and Starship.
FAQ
How many Saturn V rockets are left?
Three complete Saturn Vs are on display, in Houston, at Kennedy Space Center and in Huntsville. They combine unflown flight stages and ground-test stages.
Can you see a Saturn V standing upright?
The three real rockets are displayed horizontally. Only the full-size replica at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville stands vertically.
Which displayed Saturn V is closest to a real flight rocket?
The one at Johnson Space Center in Houston, made entirely of stages built for flight. Huntsville's is a test vehicle, and Kennedy's pairs a test first stage with flight upper stages.
Is there a Saturn V outside the United States?
No complete Saturn V is on display outside the United States; all three surviving examples are in Texas, Florida and Alabama.