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Click through scenes from Bezos Expeditions' recovery of historic Saturn 5 rocket engines from the Atlantic Ocean floor.
Salvagers backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos have recovered components from the Saturn 5 rocket engines that powered NASA's Apollo moon missions off the launch pad, more than four decades after they hurtled down to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Amazon.com's founder reported on the successful three-week sea salvage operation on his Bezos Expeditions website. "What an incredible adventure," he wrote.
"We've seen an underwater wonderland — an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves testament to the Apollo program," Bezos said Wednesday.
Almost a year ago, Bezos announced that deep-sea sonar scans had located the first-stage engines that were used for the historic Apollo 11 launch in 1969 — the launch that sent astronauts on their way to the moon's surface for the first time. The first stage of the three-stage Saturn 5 was jettisoned once its fuel was spent, and fell into the Atlantic.
It took months to plan the recovery expedition — and three weeks ago, Bezos and the salvage team headed out into the Atlantic on the Seabed Worker, a ship that has previously played a role in recovering sunken treasures.
"While I spent a reasonable chunk of time in my cabin emailing and working, it didn't keep me from getting to know the team," Bezos wrote. Much of his posting was given over to thank-yous for the team members.
The chilly ocean waters preserved the hardware in "gorgeous" condition at a depth of more than 14,000 feet, Bezos said. He noted that it was difficult to make out the serial numbers on the hardware. Confirmation of the Apollo 11 connection will have to wait until the parts are more closely examined.
Engine parts from the Apollo moon effort's Saturn 5 rockets have been in the ocean since the 1960s, but after a year of trying, Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos has brought them to the surface. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Remotely operated vehicles recovered enough components to fashion displays of two flown F-1 engines. Bezos said the ship was now on its way back to Cape Canaveral, Fla., to offload the artifacts. Bezos Expeditions said the restoration would take place at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.
"The upcoming restoration will stabilize the hardware and prevent further corrosion," Bezos said. "We want the hardware to tell its true story, including its 5,000 mile per hour re-entry and subsequent impact with the ocean surface. We’re excited to get this hardware on display where just maybe it will inspire something amazing."
Even before the expedition, Bezos and NASA worked out where the artifacts would be going. The first option would go to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs told NBC News in an email. The second engine would be offered to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, the hometown for Bezos and Amazon.com.
"While we have no role in the restoration, we are providing assistance to help identify the hardware through our various history offices and field centers," Jacobs said.
Although Bezos made his billions in the dot-com world, he's had a longstanding interest in spaceflight as well: His rocket venture, Blue Origin, has been working on a launch system for suborbital as well as orbital passenger flights with NASA's backing. Last year, Bezos donated a 5-ton Blue Origin lander prototype to the Museum of Flight.
In a statement, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden praised the recovery of the engines as a "historic find."
"We look forward to the restoration of these engines by the Bezos team and applaud Jeff’s desire to make these historic artifacts available for public display," Bolden said. "Jeff and his colleagues at Blue Origin are helping to usher in a new commercial era of space exploration, and we are confident that our continued collaboration will soon result in private human access to space, creating jobs and driving America’s leadership in innovation and exploration."
A salvage operation backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos has brought up historic Saturn 5 rocket components from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, using remotely operated vehicles. Watch scenes from the recovery effort.
More space history:
- Timeline: NASA's Glory Days
- NASA tests engine from Apollo 11 rocket
- Moon looms again as future destination
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Can't wait to see a restored F-1 in person... awesome.
Be mindful that there are still some unused ones in storage...it's what these did that make them special. 'Restoration' would take away from that.
The photos don't portray the true scale of these huge rocket engines. After all, the Apollo/Saturn V vehicles were the height of a 36-story building, 33-feet in diameter where the Rocketdyne F-1 engines were mounted and the mass of the vehicle was 6.2 million pounds. The nozzle opening of the F-1 was over 12-feet in diameter, and the overall height of the engine was almost 20-feet.
These rocket engines were absolute engineering marvels, and its a real gift to our country that Mr. Bezos cares enough to preserve these pieces of American History for inspiring future generations.
It's also a reminder to us all that we used to do big things in America, before our primary focus became bickering, and name-calling, and finger-pointing and obstruction. Today we can't even fund repairs to Americas roads and bridges - all of it core infrastructure which was actually built by the "can do" attitude of previous generations of Americans - without first having a protracted, nasty political battle over the funding.
Let sleeping rockets lie.
Bravo to Jeff Bezos and company.
Is he actually going to have these to be restored to new condition or just rinsed and put on display (my preference, but it ain't my $$)? Can't tell from the article and my employer has made Google ninja skills weak...
Frank, I hope "restoration" is limited to preventing further deterioration, as opposed to making them into something that they are not.
Just think of the amount of food and clothing this waste of money would have meant to the homeless!
This comment really isn't worth replying to, but sometimes I just can't help myself...
No money was "wasted" if the financier thought it was a good investment. The money didn't disappear, but rather paid for services (jobs) that helped people feed and clothe their families (near term benefit) and technological advances that may benefit humanity in unpredictable ways (long term benefit).
*end of rant*
Just think about the number of children who will see this HUGE engine on display, and be inspired to learn all that they can about science, space, physics, math, engineering, etc. to build the world of tomorrow! Priceless.
Kind of goes back to the whole give man a fish / teach man to fish idea. There are MUCH bigger wastes of money out there than this effort, which is an effort to preserve history. Sorry if you can't see the value.
There is this charitable gift: http://techland.time.com/2011/03/09/five-rich-tech-titans-and-what-theyve-given-to-charity/slide/jeff-bezos/
Current Topic, in the spirit of "teach a man to fish" (cjsks), I will show you how to do an internet search so that you don't come off as an idiot the next time you post.
1. Go to a search engine: www.bing.com, www.google.com, www.dogpile.com, ...
2. Enter your criteria: ex. Jeff Bezos charity foundation
3. View results
Some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope.
Before even reading this article, I knew that some pathetic troll would have already come along to complain about how a private citizen uses his private money. I was right.
Instead of getting your panties in a twist about how many homeless people could have been fed, why don't you applaud how many people were employed, with good jobs, to make this happen. It's pretty sad that none of you can see that it's better to employ people than to give handouts.
"The test of a man is the fight that he makes,
The grit that he daily shows,
The way he stands upon his feet,
And takes life's numerous bumps and blows.
A coward can smile when there's naught to fear.
And noting his progress bars,
But it takes a man to stand and cheer,
While the other fellow starts.
It isn't the victory after all
But the fight that a Brother makes.
A man when driven against the wall, still stands erect and takes the blows of fate
with his head held high, bleeding, and bruised and pale,
Is the man who will win and fate defied,
For he isn't afraid to fail."
Jeff Bezos is afraid to fail and is one of the greatest losers on earth.
No hero, no courage.
Spending profusely on objects whose expenditure prevents the perpetuation of humankind is demonstrative greed in its worst hour.
A more asinine comment I've never seen. Jeff Bezos is afraid to fail?! Really? The man who single-handed built the most direct competitor to big-box retailers the world has ever seen, is afraid to fail?
Wow. Hey, let me know how growing your business and making billions of dollars is working out for you...
It's hilarious how some folks have to urinate on the good deads of others simply because they don't think these deeds are 'worthy enough'.
Particularly when FEW IF ANY of these urinaters have probably done anything even remotely like what they demand of others. MANY have done NOTHING for thier fellow man - while they hypocritically complain about how others don't do it....
They jawbone day and night and act like PETA does. LOTS of self-congratulations and LOTS of feel good do nothing actions, but in reality, they do nothing to actually promote thier cause.
Hell, PETA kills more animals at thier shelters in Virginia than most other organizations do nationwide. That is very much the level that most of these 'urinate on others' folks are at.
Well let me tell ya, your little poem failed to convey much more than gibberish. Sounds like your jealous to me. What would you do with his kind of money? Judging by that poem you would have smoked it up in reefer and help spread your kind of ignorance to the world.
Bezos has made serious charitable contributions. that just isn't news...or poetic.
Oh, and he's trying to open space access (with no NASA money), he's just more secretive about it than SpaceX...as is any company's right.
Learn before speaking.
To many of those who work for him, he is no hero.
Bezos' pro forma would be to fumble and drop the recovery worker's pay to take any pennies they may miss.
Re: Justis4U
This is what one would call "Sour Grapes". Oh yeah, he's a loser alright with enough money to make you disappear into thin air. If having billions of dollars in your savings account makes one a loser then the world can make me a loser anytime they would like. Now if you would like to see what being a true loser is all about then I suggest you stand tall and look into a mirror. If you have any children then you have already started the loser bloodlines. If you don't have any children then you may want to do the world a favor and get yourself a vasectomy which would be a waste anyway unless there are extremely desperate women willing to conceive a bastard with you.
"...the historic Apollo 11 launch in 1969 — the launch that sent astronauts to the moon for the first time." Uh, no, Apollo 8 in 1968 was the mission that sent astronauts to the moon for the first time (remember those 'Earthrise' pictures?); Apollo 11 landed for the first time.
But, I digress. As awesome as the pictures are, I have to believe a billionaire could use his wealth in a far better way, such as finding a cure for a disease or sending a probe to another planet.
OK, I'll be more specific. "To the moon's surface," I reckon. I think I would call Apollo 8 "around the moon" rather than "to the moon," but I see where you're coming from. Thanks
Billions have already been spent on finding cures for diseases and billions more will not find a cure for some. Sending a probe to another planet would also cost in the hundreds of millions to billions range.
"Sending a probe to another planet would also cost in the hundreds of millions to billions range." Thank you, my point is thusly made.
John-398676,
Perhaps you should try reading the entire sentence; the one that says "... to the surface of the moon" before jumping to the wrong conclusion.
I want to tell everyone how to spend their money too.
;-P
Listen, this may sound insensitive, but if you spent every single dollar, peso, euro,.. spend all the money in the world on feeding the hungry, do you know what you'd solve??? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Feed a man for a day and you have accomplished nothing but increased need for toilet paper. Teach a man to feed himself and then you have accomplished something.
Stop pretending that you know what would be best for everyone else to spend THEIR money on. Jeff Bezos and most other billionaires spend MILLIONS (some even spend billions) of dollars every year of THEIR money on charitable foundations.
To John398676;
Your point (on the cost of all this) seems to imply that it's a waste of money, or could have been better spent. I'd like to address that.
First of all, it's not your money, nor were you taxed for it to be spent. This is the effort of a private citizen who risked much, but came up successful. He gambled and WON, with his own hard earned money.
Your judgement of how he spent it is obviously negative, but are you aware of how many people value history? If they did not, no museum would exist. No old buildings or monuments would stand. No familliar landmarks would remain long after newer "better" designs come into existence. And perhaps most important of all, if one is not aware of history (how we got where we are), how can you know where you're going?
One last thing... the value of all this money spent on space travel and exploration... Do you have ANY idea how much the "space race" and subsequent NASA efforts have advanced seemingly unrelated fields like medicine? Computer technology? I suspect that if you were, your opinion *might* change...
John
I bet that the people that were paid to do the work of finding and recovering the engine were glad to have jobs and be able to feed their families.
Who knows, some of these people or their offspring might now be able to go off and "cure a disease" due to this employment.
Besides that, this billionaire who is "wasting" his money employed an awful lot of people, both directly and indirectly, to get this done.
Well when it is your money then you will get to make that decision of where the money goes and how it is spent. Since it's NOT your money then maybe you should mind your own business.
I want to make billions of dollars and just go off and do whatever I want
Thankfully, we live in a country in which you can do that.
Go for it. If you've done the hard work/taken the big risks that make it possible, you will have earned it...
It's his money...he can spend it the way he wants.
Funny, seems no one complains when the majority of billionaires spend their money to make more billions, but someone just has to raise hell because one of them found what he thought was a worthy cause other than himself.
And most of the noisy piss&moan crowd don't look into these billionaires finances to see that they all make HUGE charitable donations every single year. Paul Allen for example spends more than a billion dollars per year on a variety of charitable type things that help others. Bezos also donates many millions.
I see nothing wrong with these people spending their money how they want. That's what I would hope for myself or any of you. I don't want any of you telling me how to spend my money. Do any of you want the rest of us telling you how to spend your money?
It is far better for the rich to spend all their money on themselves! It is inhumane to subject poor folks to the ravages of wealth.
Adversity strengthens, assistance weakens. Some of you bleeding hearts will grow up to reality, some never will.
Challenges in life to make people stronger. Psychologically it's called "Hardiness".
But these billionaires all make huge donations every year.
Well mob, rich people have many reasons for charity. Some think that charity helps people, most of them are more in tune with humanity than that.
Think about it, fdr got liberalism really kicked off. Eighty years later, more of the same people are still singing the blues!
"It is inhumane to subject poor folks to the ravages of wealth."
You're welcome to test that theory on me, thanks....
"I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, honey, rich is better."
- Sophie Tucker
If bidding were done it would bring literally hundreds of millions for this find. Unique. One of a kind. Historic. Maybe that's why he wanted it huh he is already rich.
Or maybe he just has an interest in historic aerospace artifacts? Sometimes you can take things at face value.
Besides, it's almost certainly still legally NASA (and thereby US Government) property...
I hear the government knocking on his door asking for their "property." mmmmkk, hand it over. It belongs to US. And no, we aren't going to reimburse you for recovery.
Read!
I applaud Mr. Bezos for what he's doing here. These engines, no matter the as-found condition, are worthy of the Smithsonian! Excellent article, thank you for posting it.
PS - To my friend who thinks we did it all on a "sound stage" with special effects from 1969-1972.... I hope you enjoyed the article! LOL!!!!
While an interesting piece of history and it's fascinating that they were found, it's also a sad commentary on what we are doing to our planet; 40 years later and there they sit on the ocean floor, relatively unchanged.
Does anybody remember a TV movie that starred Andy Griffith as a junkman who wanted to collect everything that was left on the moon for profit? He got a bunch of old NASA rockets and capsules and a retired astronaut to help him. I remember falling asleep in front of the television so I don't know if he ever made it.
This story just reminded me of it. Congrats to Bezos!
Salvage 1 was the name of it. A TV pilot followed by a short-lived series in 1979.
yes, as i remember it, he made it.
While finding these artifacts has a definite historical "coolness" factor, I'd much rather us be making new artificats than cooing and drooling over old ones. Live in the past and the future dries up. Apollo was great, but we can do better.
Thanks!
Not to get off topic here is an idea for a Lunar Train based off of the SEV
Here is another idea for transportation on Mars that couples together other space vehicles.
The idea is take the Space Based SEV seen here
http://www.oceaneering.com/advanced-technologies/space-systems/robotics-and-automation/space-exploration-vehicle/
Remove the equipment meant for use in space and replace it with equipment meant to be used with either a magnetic rail system or wheeled variant.
For the wheeled variant the Ground SEV Chassis could be used where steel wheels are used instead of the rubber tires in order for the SEV Train to operate on the rails.
http://futuristicnews.com/next-generation-vehicle-for-space-exploration-from-nasa/
Passenger cars would be basically the same as the SEV itself except seating would be present instead of system operations equipment.
Not certain though whether to use solar power or natural gas as the fuel.
Using natural gas would create a need for it on Mars that would create jobs on Earth while Solar Power would reduce the overall cost of the SEV Train.
This would be a good topic for discussion because not only could the SEV Train be used for transportation it could also be used for tourism both on Luna and Mars above and below the surface as well as many planetoids.
Hell if built correctly it could be deployed to liquid planets much like a mini sub for both exploration and tourism.
After all if she built to withstand the rigors of space then liquid methane shouldn't be a problem for her.
The SEV could even be converted into a tourist mini-sub on Earth as well.