In 1961 NASA contracted Boeing to build the 138-foot, 300,000-pound S-1C boosters that were the first stage of the 363-foot Apollo/Saturn V launch vehicles that would blast Apollo capsules to the moon. The first-stage booster, designed by Boeing in Huntsville, Ala., and assembled in New Orleans, La., had 7.5 million pounds of thrust and was a quantum leap beyond other rockets of the time. Its task was to hurl a 120-ton payload into orbit around the Earth. North American Rockwell built the S-II second stage, the command and service modules, and the F-1 and J-2 rocket engines, and the McDonnell Douglas Corp. built the S-IVB third stage. As time went on, Boeing was given more responsibility for the Saturn V program and, by 1964, was in charge of assembling all three stages of the rocket and providing mission support. Boeing also provided the technical staff at Cape Kennedy, responsible for checkout support during final assembly.