Family-level launch record combining canonical variants, historical missions, public cadence forecasts, and available payload performance specs.
Historical missions are grouped by actual launch year. Forecast cadence uses family-level launch-rate rows.
| Year | Historical missions | Forecast launches |
|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 3 | 0 |
| 1965 | 3 | 0 |
| 1966 | 3 | 0 |
| 1968 | 2 | 0 |
| 1973 | 3 | 0 |
| 1975 | 1 | 0 |
Payload capacity by variant and target orbit when structured capacity rows are available.
| Variant | Orbit | Capacity | Altitude | Inclination | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No performance specsNo structured payload capacity rows are linked to this vehicle family. | |||||
Canonical variants rolled up into this launch vehicle family.
| Variant | Stages | Missions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Saturn IB | Not stated | 8 | Retired |
Saturn I Blk2 | Not stated | 6 | Retired |
Uprated Saturn I | Not stated | 1 | Retired |
Saturn IB |
| May 25, 1973 |
| Apollo 7 Mission | Saturn IB | Oct 11, 1968 |
| Apollo 5 | Saturn IB | Jan 22, 1968 |
| Launch 1966-U06 | Saturn IB | Aug 25, 1966 |
| AS-203 | Uprated Saturn I | Jul 5, 1966 |
Upcoming mission rows with announced launch timing.
| Mission | Variant | Announced |
|---|---|---|
No forecasted missionsNo upcoming announced mission rows are linked to this vehicle family. | ||
Each Saturn-class bus includes advanced electric propulsion, a power system, command and data handling, radio frequency communications, and dedicated payload interfaces capable of hosting several different Department of Defense payloads.
The delivered Saturn-class buses are Blue Canyon Technologies’ first flight units using the Kyber Electrical Power System and Hyperion Solar Arrays.
NovaWurks is working with Saturn Satellite Networks to jointly develop Saturn’s NationSat, a small geostationary communications satellite.
Dawn Aerospace, based in the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States, was selected by Blue Canyon Technologies to provide turnkey chemical propulsion systems for the X-SAT Saturn satellite bus.
SWISSto12 will market geostationary telecommunications satellites based on Saturn’s MicroGEO bus, which provides payload power of approximately two kilowatts.
Saturn will market geostationary telecommunications and high-throughput satellites based on the ISN and Nationsat buses, which are designed to offer power of approximately five kilowatts.
Saturn CEO Thomas Choi frames the cooperation with SWISSto12 as strengthening Saturn’s mission to provide robust and affordable satellite platforms for nations lacking resources for space-based services.
Saturn purchased 30 percent of NovaWurks in 2019 and obtained an option to buy the remaining 70 percent.
The SLS Block 2 will be capable of sending payloads of nearly 10 tons directly to Jupiter and a similar amount to Saturn with a gravity assist.
NASA constructed Space Launch Complex 37 in the 1960s for the Apollo-Saturn program, and the pad was modified in the late 1990s to serve as the launch site for Delta IV.
In December, Saturn agreed to launch one or two NationSat small geostationary communications satellites on OmegA’s maiden flight.
Saturn originally sized NationSats between 600 and 1,700 kg but resized the largest NationSats to around 1,000 kg after switching from chemical to electric propulsion.
Northrop Grumman agreed to launch one or two of Saturn’s NationSat small geostationary communications satellites on the maiden flight of OmegA.
Saturn’s first NationSat, built for Moscow-based Intersputnik, is slated to launch on a shared SpaceX Falcon 9 mission that slipped from 2020 to 2021.
NASA selected the fourth New Frontiers mission, a spacecraft called Dragonfly that will fly from site to site on Saturn’s moon Titan, in June for launch in 2026.
Saturn intends to acquire NovaWurks, a California company that has been developing smallsats using modular expandable platforms.
Saturn will fly one or two NationSat small geostationary satellites on an OmegA rocket launching from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B in the spring of 2021.
NASA will send a spacecraft called Dragonfly to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, to study how life could have developed there and on early Earth.
Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 within weeks of each other on missions to fly by Jupiter and Saturn.