Saturn V rocket. Cutaway illustration of the first stage (S-1C) of the Saturn V rocket. The Saturn V was the launch vehicle for NASA's Apollo programme of manned missions to the Moon, and later Skylab missions. The rocket consisted of three stages. S-1C was equipped with five F-1 engines (bottom) used during take-off. These engines ran off liquid oxygen oxidizer from an upper tank (top) and rocket fuel (RP-1) from a tank just above the engines. The engines burned for less than three minutes, lifting the 3000-tonne rocket to an altitude of 68 kilometres, where the first stage was jettisoned. The rocket's second and third stages took the Apollo spacecraft on to its trajectory to the Moon.