 On this day in research history in 1964, an IBM computer was used aboard an historic testing flight of the NASA Saturn rocket. The flight successfully placed a record-breaking 19-ton payload into orbit around the Earth, which at the time was the heaviest payload ever orbited. The 94-pound guidance computer, produced by IBM's Federal Systems Division Space Guidance Center in New York, was mounted in the rocket as an integral part of the instrument unit, or IU, section of the Saturn. The IU, which was built by IBM, contained all the important controls to keep the Saturn mission safe. The computer was carried on the historic flight to measure millions of data points and transmit information about the mission's performers back to Earth. Later flights of the Saturn rocket included the same type of IBM computer, which guided the vehicle from launch into space. Just over five years later, NASA used the Saturn system to send the first humans to the surface of the Moon on Apollo 11. Keep checking back for more moments in IBM Research History.