27 October 24

 On 27 October 1961, NASA launched the first test flight for the Saturn rocket, which was to become the basic design for all of the launch vehicles for the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo missions and Skylab (1961-1973). "The Saturn I made its maiden flight on 27 October 1961 with a dummy upper stage and partially fueled first stage. Tension in the blockhouse was high as no launch vehicle to date had been successful on the first attempt and there was the widespread fear of a pad explosion. As the Saturn was the largest booster yet flown, such an event was sure to be extremely destructive, possibly putting the launch complex out of use for six months. In the end, however, these worries subsided as the booster lifted and performed a flawless test flight."