Saturn Apollo Program

The photograph shows the loading operation of the Saturn I S-IV stage (second stage) into the Pregnant Guppy at the Redstone Airfield, Huntsville, Alabama. The Pregnant Guppy was a Boeing B-377 Stratocruiser modified to transport various stages of Saturn launch vehicles. The modification project called for lengthening the fuselage to accommodate the S-IV stage. After the flight test of that modification, phase two called for the enlargement of the plane's cabin section to approximately double its normal volume. The fuselage separated just aft of the wing's trailing edge to load and unload the S-IV and other cargoes.