Rocket Engine Pulled From the Ocean Definitely Belonged to Apollo 11

The serial number identifying the engines as coming from Apollo 11. Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center

 
On the eve of the 44th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon, a piece of their historic legacy has been ID’ed here on Earth. Billionaire Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has confirmed that the rocket engines he picked up from the ocean floor five months ago belonged to Apollo 11.

More than a year ago, Bezos announced a mission to try and recover the mighty F-1 engines, which each delivered 1.5 million pounds of thrust to the Saturn V rocket that carried men to the lunar surface. After delivering the Apollo astronauts to space, the engines crashed back to Earth and lay dormant on the ocean floor for more than 40 years, reaching a serious state of decay. After trawling the Atlantic, Bezos’ team announced that they had recovered the artifacts and returned them to land for preservation and eventual display at a museum.

But with the engines warped and covered in rust, it was impossible to say precisely which of the Apollo missions they had come from. Bezos had always been aiming to find relics from Apollo 11 because he said the mission had inspired his passion in science and engineering as a child.

During the painstaking cleaning process, a conservator at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center using black light and a special lens filter to examine the relic pieces noticed a tiny number — 2044. That figure is a Rocketdyne serial number that correlates to NASA number 6044, the serial number for F-1 Engine #5 from Apollo 11.

Bezos is thrilled with the news. On his blog, he wrote that “44 years ago tomorrow Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, and now we have recovered a critical technological marvel that made it all possible.”
Now that they have identified the important mission these engines came from, workers can continue their conservation efforts. In addition to getting them cleaned and ready for display, the Cosmosphere is scanning all components to build a 3-D CAD model. Once that is finished, the artifacts will be shown at museums around the U.S., though exactly which ones is yet to be determined.

The all-important 2044 serial number, which shows that this engine came from Apollo 11. Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center

The Best Space Images Ever Were Taken by Apollo Astronauts With Hasselblad Cameras

The most iconic photos from the manned exploration of space come from the monumental Apollo project. But if you're not a camera buff or a space-history enthusiast, you may not know that nearly every single famous photo from that program was taken using Hasselblad cameras.

Known among photographers for their larger-than-normal film format and amazing optical qualities, the Swedish-based Hasselblad has also had a more than 50-year partnership with NASA. Astronaut Wally Schira carried the first Hasselblad used by NASA, a 500C camera -- which he had purchased at a Houston photo supply shop -- during his turn around the Earth in a Mercury rocket in in 1962.

Subsequent Mercury and Gemini astronauts also used Hasselblads, and each space shuttle flight took an average of 1,000 and 2,000 pictures with the cameras. Both NASA and the astronauts liked the Hasselblads for many reasons.

“The cameras were relatively simple to use, and film was preloaded into magazines that could easily be interchanged in mid-roll when lighting situations changed,” wrote Gary H. Kitmacher for NASA’s history office.
The Hasselblad EDC, which was carried by each Apollo astronaut. ©Hasselblad

NASA asked Hasselblad for a modified version of their 500EL models to use during the Apollo moon missions. Known as the Hasselblad Electric Data Camera (EDC), these machines came with specially designed lenses and a glass plate that placed reference crosses on each image to make it possible to figure out the distance and heights of objects in the photos. The EDC's photo plate was also coated with a small conductive layer of silver, preventing the buildup of static electricity that could result in a spark. Finally, the outer camera was painted silver to help maintain the temperature, and all lubricants had to be replaced to allow the machines to work in the vacuum of space.

Starting with Apollo 8, astronauts carried a Hasselblad EDC with them on their lunar journeys. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin each had one during their brief but historic romp on the moon on July 20, 1969. Subsequent men also took Hasselblads, 12 of which are now sitting on the moon’s surface, left behind to save weight on the return trip. Only the film magazines returned to Earth.

Pictures from Apollo allowed people all over the world to participate in the trip. Looking through the Apollo Hasselblad film reels is like perusing someone’s weird vacation slides. Except in this case, the vacation happens to be one taken on the moon. As an additional and somewhat related bonus, the state of film technology in 1969 provides definitive proof that the moon landings could not have been faked.

In honor of the 44th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic landing, here we present a gallery of some of the best shots that astronauts took from the moon and space with Hasselblad cameras.

Above:
Neil Armstrong stands on the moon next to the Apollo 11 lunar lander, showing the American flag nearby. Most of the Apollo 11 images were taken by Armstrong and so feature Buzz Aldrin. This is one of the few with Armstrong actually in it.

Image: NASA