{"id":18954,"date":"2017-05-18T17:28:24","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T09:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/apollo-moon-rocket-engines-finally-fill-a-place-of-honor-at-museum-of-flight\/"},"modified":"2017-05-18T17:28:24","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T09:28:24","slug":"apollo-moon-rocket-engines-finally-fill-a-place-of-honor-at-museum-of-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/apollo-moon-rocket-engines-finally-fill-a-place-of-honor-at-museum-of-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Apollo moon rocket engines finally fill a place of honor at Museum of Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_333545\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-333545\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-333545\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170518-apollo-concannon-630x421.jpg\" alt=\"David Concannon with Apollo rocket engines\" width=\"630\" height=\"421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170518-apollo-concannon-630x421.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170518-apollo-concannon-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170518-apollo-concannon-1260x842.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/170518-apollo-concannon.jpg 2043w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-333545\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Concannon, who put together a team to find components from the F-1 rocket engines that sent NASA astronauts on their way to the moon, recounts the adventure at the Museum of Flight with the recovered components in the background. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Almost 50 years after&nbsp;they were fired up, rocket engines that sent NASA\u2019s Apollo crews on the first leg of their trips to the moon have reached their final destination at last, in the spotlight at the Museum of Flight\u2019s \u201cApollo\u201d exhibit in Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>During&nbsp;a press preview today, the museum&nbsp;showed off the mangled components from the Saturn V first-stage engines&nbsp;for two Apollo moon missions, alongside an intact 18-foot-high F-1 rocket engine on loan from NASA.<\/p>\n<p>It was a bittersweet moment for David Concannon, who put together the team that found the engines in 2013 with backing&nbsp;from Amazon\u2019s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t see this until two hours ago, and I was overwhelmed,\u201d Concannon told GeekWire today. \u201cI still am. \u2026 It\u2019s a really sad moment. I\u2019m proud of what we and Jeff did, but it\u2019s kinda like sending your son off to college.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Concannon has been involved as an explorer in Titanic expeditions, and as a lawyer in 2004\u2019s&nbsp;prize-winning flights of the privately funded SpaceShipOne rocket plane. Those were thrilling experiences, but in Concannon\u2019s opinion, finding&nbsp;and recovering the F-1 engines is on an entirely different level.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not just his opinion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy son has seen his dad do all these projects and all these expeditions,\u201d Concannon said, \u201cand when it was finally announced that we had found the engines that launched men to the moon, he said, \u2018Congratulations, Dad. You finally did something that matters.\u2019 \u2026 I\u2019m proud to bring him here this morning to see what his dad was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Apollo exhibit of recovered F-1 engines at The Museum of Flight\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jmzhgWXr0jQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Some of the components on display in Seattle came from F-1 engines that were fired up for Apollo 12 in 1969, just months after the history-making Apollo 11 moon landing that same year.&nbsp;Other components came from the engines for Apollo 16, the second-last moon mission, which was launched in 1972.<\/p>\n<p>The F-1 engines weren\u2019t meant to survive their missions. The Saturn V\u2019s first stage dropped&nbsp;away less than three minutes after launch while the crew continued onward to orbit. The booster for each mission smashed into the ocean and broke apart, leaving the remains of its&nbsp;five engines to drift three miles down to the bottom of the sea.<\/p>\n<p>Bezos was 5 years old when Apollo 11 happened. Decades later, he said the Apollo experience \u201cwas a big contributor to my passions for science, engineering and exploration,\u201d eventually leading him to create Amazon as well as his Blue Origin space venture.<\/p>\n<p>Seven years ago, the billionaire asked Concannon to come up with a plan for recovering the Apollo engines. At the time, Bezos said his objective was not just&nbsp;to reawaken memories for the Apollo generation, but also to inspire future generations of 5-year-olds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo me, that is the purest form of giving,\u201d Concannon said.<\/p>\n<p>Concannon recruited the members of the expedition team, drawing heavily on veterans from Seattle, and worked out the details for the recovery effort. When camera-equipped submersible robots identified and dredged up the engines in 2013, Bezos said the underwater scene reminded him of a \u201cmagic sculpture garden,\u201d with some parts twisted almost beyond recognition.<\/p>\n<p>The recovered artifacts&nbsp;went&nbsp;through a round of&nbsp;preservation at the Kansas Cosmosphere &nbsp;\u2013 and then were shipped to&nbsp;the Museum of Flight, where they were put in storage while experts worked out how best to display them. This week marks the official coming-out party for the F-1 engines and the \u201cApollo\u201d exhibition.<\/p>\n<p>The engine components&nbsp;are&nbsp;arranged like puzzle pieces to show how they fit together&nbsp;in flight. The&nbsp;intact engine stands alongside the artifacts to serve&nbsp;as a visual&nbsp;guide, revealing&nbsp;the intricacies of 1960s-era aerospace engineering as well as the violence done by the fall into the sea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese engines tell a magnificent story of a time&nbsp;in America when everybody came together, pulled together to do something magnificent. When President Kennedy said, \u2018We choose to go to the moon,\u2019 it wasn\u2019t actually possible, because the technology didn\u2019t exist,\u201d Concannon said. \u201cIf it weren\u2019t for tens of thousands of people pulling together to make that possible, we never would have achieved it. To me, that\u2019s the story that these beat-up, burned-up artifacts tell.\u201d<\/p>\n<style>.fotorama1782802701601 .fotorama__nav--thumbs .fotorama__nav__frame{\npadding:2px;\nheight:64px}\n.fotorama1782802701601 .fotorama__thumb-border{\nheight:60px;\nborder-width:2px;\nmargin-top:2px}<\/style>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_31-1260x840.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 600px; height: 400px; left: 100px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tThe centerpieces of the Museum of Flight\u2019s \u201cApollo\u201d exhibit are components from an Apollo 16 rocket engine (above) and an Apollo 12 engine (below), arranged in an exploded view. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_45-1-1008x1260.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 320px; height: 400px; left: 240px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tThe spacesuit that NASA astronaut John Young wore during the Apollo 10 mission is on display at Museum of Flight\u2019s \u201cApollo\u201d exhibit. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_15-1260x840.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 600px; height: 400px; left: 100px; top: 0px;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tThe museum\u2019s education director, Seth Margolis, is flanked by an intact F-1 rocket engine at left and the recovered Apollo engine components at right. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_31-1260x840.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 96px; height: 64px; left: 0px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_15-1260x840.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 96px; height: 64px; left: 0px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_23-1260x840.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 96px; height: 64px; left: 0px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_25-1260x840.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 96px; height: 64px; left: 0px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_38-1260x840.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 96px; height: 64px; left: 0px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_43-1260x840.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 96px; height: 64px; left: 0px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_41-1260x840.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 96px; height: 64px; left: 0px; top: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/20170518_Apollo_Exhibit_45-1-1008x1260.jpg\" class=\"fotorama__img\" style=\"width: 51.2px; height: 64px; left: -0.1px; top: 0px;\"><\/p>\n<p>Doug King, the Museum of Flight\u2019s president and CEO, marveled at the 1.5 million pounds of thrust that the F-1 engine blasted out during a launch. \u201cThis one engine is more powerful than all the aircraft in the museum put together,\u201d he told GeekWire.<\/p>\n<p>But the museum\u2019s \u201cApollo\u201d exhibit shows off much&nbsp;more than just the engines: Full-scale engineering models of an Apollo command module, a lunar rover and a Viking Mars lander are also on display. There\u2019s a wealth of artifacts linked to Apollo 12 and its commander, Pete Conrad, ranging from one of the moon rocks picked up during his mission to the cuff checklist he wore during a moonwalk. (For what it\u2019s worth, the exhibit doesn\u2019t show the X-rated&nbsp;Playboy pictures that were slipped into the checklist as a joke.)<\/p>\n<p>During the public opening of the exhibit, which takes place this weekend&nbsp;as part of the Museum of Flight\u2019s&nbsp;SpaceFest activities, you&nbsp;can get in on a series of talks by Concannon and others who were involved in the F-1 recovery and restoration effort, and even try taking a virtual-reality moonwalk. (Check the museum\u2019s website for the full SpaceFest 2017 schedule on Saturday and Sunday.)<\/p>\n<p>Other components from Apollo 11\u2019s F-1 rocket engines will&nbsp;go on display at the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., under an arrangement worked out by NASA, Bezos and the museums. And Concannon said he and his colleagues identified six additional&nbsp;sites on the Atlantic Ocean floor where Apollo engine parts are still lying.<\/p>\n<p>He hopes those resting places will remain undisturbed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe pretty much picked the best artifacts that would be the most well-preserved, that somebody could look at in the museum and tell the story of Apollo, plus a three-mile plunge to the bottom of the ocean, 40 years on the bottom, and all that,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d be happy if it was one and done \u2026 says the guy who\u2019s been to the Titanic three times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Concannon, who put together a team to find components from the F-1 rocket engines that sent NASA astronauts on their way to the moon, recounts the adventure at the Museum of Flight with the recovered components in the background. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota) Almost 50 years after&nbsp;they were fired up, rocket engines that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1651,1046,4450,4029],"class_list":["post-18954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-apollo","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-museum-of-flight","tag-space-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}