Apollo-Era Rocket Engines Pulled From The Bottom Of The Atlantic Ocean

By Dina Spector

2013-03-20T20:32:00Z

Apollo F1 Nozzle — The nozzle of an F-1 engine. Bezos Expeditions

Scientists used underwater vehicles to recover, from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the most powerful engines ever fired to boost rockets from the Apollo program into space.

The two F-1 engines were discovered last March by an expedition under the command of Amazon's CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.

Click here to see the engine parts >

Parts of those engines have now been pulled up to the surface.

The F-1 engines lifted the Saturn V rocket off its launch pad, and made it possible for Apollo astronauts to land on the moon during the 1960s.

Because most of the serial numbers are missing, the expedition team still isn't sure which Apollo missions these engines came from, Bezos wrote on his blog.

It's still a remarkable recovery.

The engine parts were found three miles below the surface of the ocean.

Apollo F1 Nozzle — Nozzle Bezos Expeditions

The expedition photographed parts and brought some of the main pieces on deck.

Apollo F1 Gas Generator and Manifold — Gas Generator and Manifold Bezos Expeditions

The pieces are in good enough condition to reconstruct displays of two F-1 engines.

Apollo F1 Thrust Chamber and Fuel Manifold — Thrust Chamber and Fuel Manifold Bezos Expeditions

According to Bezos, many of the original serial numbers are missing or partially missing. This will make it hard to identify which mission the engines came from.

Apollo F1 Turbine — Turbine Bezos Expeditions

The Apollo Saturn V rockets had three stages, which might contain one or a cluster of engines. The stages separate from each other when fuel is used.

Apollo F1 Injector and LOX Dome — Injector and LOX Dome Bezos Expeditions

Five F-1 engines were used in the first stage of each Saturn V, which fall into the ocean after they separate from the rocket.

Apollo F1 Thrust Chamber — F1 Thrust Chamber Bezos Expeditions

This expedition recovered two of the Saturn V's first-stage engines from the bottom of the Atlantic.

Apollo F1 Heat Exchanger — Heat Exchanger Bezos Expeditions

Each engine was 19 feet tall by 12 feet wide and weighed over 18,000 pounds.

Apollo F1 Nozzle Hat Band — Nozzle Hat Band Bezos Expeditions

Here's the heart of the engine, the thrust chamber, which mixed liquid oxygen and kerosene fuel in order to thrust the space vehicle to a height of about 36 miles and to a speed of about 6,000 mph.

Apollo F1 Thrust Chamber — Thrust Chamber Bezos Expeditions

The F-1 engine was developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Here they are test firing all five F-1 engines.

Saturn V

F-1 engines stored in the F-1 Engine Preparation Shop.

Saturn V

Here's a close-up view of the F-1 Engine for the Saturn V S-IC.

Saturn V

Check out this video if you want to see how the engines were recovered using remote operate vehicles.

Now learn about the future of space.

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