1950s-70s Space Race to The Moon: 1967-11-09 USA Saturn V AS-501 (Apollo 4)

An Apollo 4 launch cover featuring the "KSC Officials" stamped cachet, postmarked at Kennedy Space Center with a machine cancel on November 9, 1967, signed by Wernher von Braun.

Apollo 4 (also known as AS-501) was the first unmanned test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle that was later used by the U.S. Apollo program to send the first astronauts to the Moon. The space vehicle was assembled in the Vertical Assembly Building, and was the first to be launched from Launch Complex 39 at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, facilities built specially for the Saturn V. At that time, it was the largest launch vehicle to ever attempt a flight.

Photo: The Saturn 5 rocket and its mobile transporter and launching tower.

In August 1967, the Saturn V vehicle (AS-501), rolled out to the launch pad in preparation for its first launch. The vehicle was designed by engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. for the first human missions to the moon. The 363-foot-tall rocket rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building on a crawler and slowly moving at 1 mph made its way to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.

An Apollo 4 launch cover from "Orbit Covers", postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on November 9, 1967.

Apollo 4 was an "all-up" test, meaning all rocket stages and spacecraft were fully functional on the initial flight, a first for NASA. The mission lasted almost nine hours, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, achieving all mission goals.

Photo: NASA drawings depicts the return of the Apollo 4 capsule.

An Apollo 4 launch cover from "SpaceCraft Swanson", Apollo 4 launch cover postmarked at Cape Canaveral, November 9, 1967.

Photo: Photos of the Earth taken by camera on board Apollo 4 spacecraft.

An Apollo 4 launch cover with a printed “Morris Beck B716” cachet (planned for AS-204/Apollo 1), featuring the "KSC Officials" stamped cachet, postmarked at Kennedy Space Center with a machine cancel on November 9, 1967.


Photo: Apollo 4 capsule splashdown in the Pacific Ocean and recovered by USS Bennington.

An Apollo 4 recovery cover featuring a magenta “Morris Beck” rubber-stamped cachet, postmarked aboard USS Bennington with a hand cancel on November 9, 1967.