Saturn V rocket. Illustration of the second stage (S-II) 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. The first stage was used during take-off, lifting the 3000-tonne rocket to an altitude of 68 kilometres, where the it was jettisoned. The second stage, seen here, was equipped with five J-2 engines, running off tanks of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The second stage boosted the rocket through the upper atmosphere. It was then jettisoned and the third stage took the Apollo spacecraft onto its trajectory to the Moon.