Sunken Apollo F1 engines recovered by Amazon CEO

An expedition funded by the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezo, has retrieved two Apollo-era engines from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Apollo engines Bezo discovered amazon
The engines were eventually located 360 miles from Cape Canaveral


The engines, first thought to have been the ones that launched Apollo 11 to the Moon, where found using sonar, 360 miles from Cape Canaveral and nearly three miles below the surface. However, Bezo says he cannot be sure which mission they are from, as the serial numbers have corroded away.

"We found so much," commented Bezos. "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.

"We photographed many beautiful objects in situ and have now recovered many prime pieces. Each piece we bring on deck conjures for me the thousands of engineers who worked together back then to do what for all time had been thought surely impossible."

Bezo Apollo Nasa engines discovered
The engines will now undergo restoration, before going on display in two US museums


NASA has been enlisted to help trace the origin of the F-1 engines, and it was NASA's own underwater robots that Bezo sent to hoist the engines from the seafloor. Bezo will restore one of the engine's parts for a planned display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, with the other headed to the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

During the 1960s and 1970s, all Apollo astronauts were launched into space aboard the Saturn V rocket, which featured five hugely powerful engines, producing 7.5m pounds of trust and each weighing 18,000.

In January, a rocket engine used on the North American X-15 aircraft, the world's first operational spaceplane, sold for $150,000 in California.

Celebrate this remarkable discovery with our fantastic selection of space memorabilia for sale, which includes signed photographs of all of the Apollo astronauts to have walked on the Moon


 

Featured products

Elvis Presley Authentic Strand of Hair
Elvis Presley Authentic Strand of Hair
Sale price£399
In stock
Fidel Castro signed certificateFidel Castro Signed Certificate
Fidel Castro signed certificate
Sale price£2,995
In stock
King Henry VIII Autographed DocumentKing Henry VIII Autographed Document
King Henry VIII Autographed Document
Sale price£55,000
In stock