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On this day in space! Nov. 9, 1967: NASA launches the Saturn V moon rocket for the first time on Apollo 4, but no astronauts were aboard

Just two years after its debut, the Saturn V rocket launched the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon for the first crewed moon landing in July 1969.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 3 sources•2 min read•Updated November 9, 2026, 10:11 PM UTC
Key points
  • Applications due on 3 December for new generation of explorers who can ‘shape humanity’s future in space’ Nasa has launched a callout for a new generation of astronauts as it searches for explorers who could live and work on the moon.
  • Opening applications for the latest expansion of its Artemis program, the US agency said successful candidates would help “shape humanity’s future in space” as it builds a base on the moon and plans the first crewed missions to Mars.
  • NASA needs more recruits in order to return to the moon after being gone more than half a century.

NASA's first-ever Saturn V rocket launches on its maiden flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the uncrewed Apollo 4 test flight on Nov.

The space agency had bet the moon on its new Saturn V booster, a three-stage heavy-lift rocket designed to fly astronauts in a capsule (as well as their lander) to the moon and back.

Additional details
  • Amazing Apollo 4: NASA's 1st Saturn V Moon Rocket Test Flight in Photos “It was really an expert launching all the way through from lifting off exactly on time to performance of every single stage,” rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun, director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said at the time.
  • One year later, another Saturn V rocket launched the first astronauts to the moon with the Apollo 8 mission.
  • (Image credit: NASA) Why it mattered The launch of Apollo 4 in November 1967 was a turning point for NASA on its path to landing astronauts on the moon.
  • 27, 1967, the space agency suffered a fatal tragedy when Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died on the launch pad after a fire broke out inside their Apollo command module during a ground test.
  • NASA/Interm Archives/Getty “The maiden voyage of the Saturn V dramatically increased the confidence of people across the nation in the management of the largest research and development undertaking in which the western world has ever engaged,” George Mueller, NASA's then-Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, said at the time.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

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Every article behind this summary — 4 articles from 3 outlets

Space.comNovember 9, 2026, 10:11 PM UTC → NPR ScienceNovember 8, 2026, 11:36 PM UTC → The Guardian ScienceNovember 8, 2026, 4:54 PM UTC → Space.comNovember 8, 2026, 3:25 PM UTC →

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