{"id":19564,"date":"2015-11-19T23:10:55","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T15:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/amazons-jeff-bezos-and-seattles-museum-of-flight-unwrap-apollo-moon-engine-artifacts\/"},"modified":"2015-11-19T23:10:55","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T15:10:55","slug":"amazons-jeff-bezos-and-seattles-museum-of-flight-unwrap-apollo-moon-engine-artifacts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/amazons-jeff-bezos-and-seattles-museum-of-flight-unwrap-apollo-moon-engine-artifacts\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon\u2019s Jeff Bezos and Seattle\u2019s Museum of Flight unwrap Apollo moon engine artifacts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Injector
Billionare Jeff Bezos beams as Allison Loveland, a collection specialist at Seattle\u2019s Museum of Flight, unwraps an Apollo F1 rocket engine injection plate. Geoff Nunn, the museum\u2019s adjunct curator for space history, stands by to the left. (GeekWire photo by Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos got misty-eyed at Seattle\u2019s Museum of Flight during today\u2019s unveiling of rocket engine parts from the Apollo moonshots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always do,\u201d he told GeekWire afterward.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the fact that Bezos has been a space fan since the age of 5. He funded the Bezos Expeditions voyage that recovered hundreds of parts from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, 14,000 feet down \u2013 and he was aboard the ship when the mangled 40-year-old parts were brought up from the deep in 2013.<\/p>\n

\"pluto\"
\nScience journalist Alan Boyle<\/strong> is the author of “The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made A Big Difference.”<\/p>\n

It was Bezos who asked NASA to let some of the artifacts go on exhibit in his hometown museum. This summer, the space agency gave its OK. So Bezos was all smiles when he showed off some of the shrink-wrapped remains from the Saturn V rockets that sent Apollo 12 and Apollo 16 to the moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really about the past \u2026 it\u2019s about today, and it\u2019s about the future,\u201d Bezos said at the unveiling. He said he hoped the museum\u2019s exhibit would inspire a new generation to take on Apollo-scale challenges in science and engineering.<\/p>\n

A different assortment of recovered parts, including pieces from the Apollo 11 mission\u2019s F-1 rocket engines, will go on display at the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

\"Thrust
The thrust chamber from an Apollo \/ Saturn V F-1 rocket engine sits on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, awaiting recovery. (Credit: Bezos Expeditions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bezos\u2019 team used remote-operated, camera-equipped submersibles to find and recover the parts on the Atlantic seafloor, in a patch where the first stages from multiple Saturn V rockets settled after falling from the sky. The shrink-wrapped pieces that were brought out for today\u2019s ceremony included an injector plate, oxidizer dome and thrust chamber from one of the F-1 engines on Apollo 12\u2019s Saturn V. Museum workers also opened the lid on a crate containing a heat exchanger from an F-1 used for Apollo 16.<\/p>\n

The ceremony came on the 46th anniversary of the Apollo 12 moon landing, and was conducted for the benefit of VIPs, media representatives and visiting students from Raisbeck Aviation High School. But the wider public will soon get a peek at the goods as well.<\/p>\n

The 3-foot-wide, rust-covered injector plate will go on view starting Saturday as a preview of the full exhibit. That preview will end on Jan. 4. Then the museum will get all the parts ready to go on display in 2017 as the centerpiece of a new permanent Apollo exhibit. In addition to the engine parts, the new exhibit will show off other Apollo artifacts, including moon rocks and items that trace the career of Apollo 12 moonwalker Pete Conrad.<\/p>\n

\"Bezos
Jeff Bezos recounts the story of recovering Apollo F-1 engine parts with the shrink-wrapped artifacts in the background at the Museum of Flight. (GeekWire photo by Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Back
Visitors check out the unwrapped engine injector plate at the Museum of Flight. Two other engine parts, to the left and the right, stayed in their shrink wrap during the ceremony, but they\u2019ll go on display in 2017. (GeekWire photo by Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Injector
A close-up view shows the rust on the Apollo 12 engine injector plate. (GeekWire photo by Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Apollo
A video cameraman takes a look inside a crate containing the heat exchanger from an F-1 engine that was used during the Apollo 16 mission. (GeekWire photo by Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Apollo
A close-up peek under the shrink wrap reveals the tangled underbelly of the thrust chamber from an engine used for the Apollo 12 launch in 1969. (GeekWire photo by Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Geoff Nunn, the museum\u2019s adjunct curator for space history, said a full-scale mockup of the 18.5-foot-tall F-1 engine would be put on display as well.<\/p>\n

The delivery from the Kansas Cosmosphere, where the engine parts were preserved, included crates that contained hundreds of tiny bits from the ruined engines. \u201cWe received more than we knew we were getting,\u201d Nunn told GeekWire.<\/p>\n

Although Bezos is best-known for founding Amazon, the world\u2019s biggest online retailer, he has also had a long-running interest in space exploration. That interest is reflected in his Blue Origin space venture as well as in Bezos Expeditions\u2019 F-1 engine recovery effort.<\/p>\n

Bezos: Next Blue Origin flight test is coming \u2018very soon\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 5 years old, I watched Neil Armstrong step onto the moon, and it imprinted me with a passion for science and exploration \u2013 it\u2019s my hope that these engines might spark a similar passion in a child who sees them today,\u201d Bezos said in a statement released before the unveiling.<\/p>\n

That sentiment was seconded in statements from Doug King, the museum\u2019s president and CEO, and from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.<\/p>\n