Saturn V Mobile Launcher (ML)
Web site by: Phil Broad

Wide Shots:
This group gives an overall view of ML-1 from different angles.
Detail Shots:
These are close-ups of different portions of ML-1.
Panorama Shots:
These are groups of shots which can be spliced together forming complete images.
Links Page:
Other Project Apollo History Websites

This series of photos was taken at the Kennedy Space Center during the flight of STS 7.  They were just beginning to assemble the crane which was going to be used to dismantle the Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT) from the pad so it could be converted to shuttle use (it would become Shuttle Mobile Launch Platform 3, MLP-3).  Therefore these are some of the last pictures ever taken of this historic structure.  Mobile Launcher 1 (ML-1) had been used to launch Apollo 4, 8 and 11 and later the three manned Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Saturn 1B missions via the "milk stool" adapter structure, still seen in place at the time of these photos.  The "milk stool" helped position the substantially shorter Saturn 1B at a height more suitable to the Saturn V LUT, similar to a child's booster seat seen in many restaurants today. The only real difference being that this "child" weighed thousands of tons and could only be moved by a custom built crawler/transporter.  Further details about the ML can be found in the NASA on-line publication "Moonport" which chronicles the building of the Kennedy Space Center.  For additional photos of the ML see the Apollo Saturn Reference Pages by John Duncan.  Go to the "Modeling" section then scroll to the bottom of the page.

Please contact me if you have comments about these images or corrections to the information presented here via E-Mail.