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I’ve always thought that the only place you could have ever seen a full Saturn V standing upright was the Kennedy Space Center. Is this true, or has the Saturn V ever been stacked vertically at any other location?

For example, I have heard about the Saturn V Dynamic Test Stand, but I wasn’t sure if the full stack was ever assembled and tested there. I’m also not sure if the rocket has ever been displayed at any other museum or rocket garden in a vertical configuration.

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    $\begingroup$ There's a full size fake one in the vertical at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. The one in the dynamic test stand was a full stack (not a real Apollo spacecraft though), but a ground test article only. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V_dynamic_test_vehicle $\endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    Commented Oct 2, 2020 at 0:01
  • $\begingroup$ I think it was very unlikely that a Saturn V was transported as separate stages to another place, stacked there, disassembled later, transported to KSC, stacked again and launched from KSC. The reliability would be lower due to the additional transports and manipulations. $\endgroup$
    – Uwe
    Commented Oct 2, 2020 at 9:05

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This depends on to what degree you define the SA-500D as "a full Saturn V".

All components of it where certainly stacked vertically at the Saturn V Dynamic Test Stand, as can be seen in the 1966 Wikimedia photo below. (also includes a simple Apollo mockup).

"Full stack" was called "Configuration I"

The only test article of the SA-500D to be launched into space was the LTA-2 on Apollo 4.

Most of the other components of the SA-500D are currently displayed at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville (but not vertically). If you consider this a "fake" one, the Saturn V dynamic test vehicle is also fake, as they are essentially the same components.

SA-500D

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