Amazon CEO says discovery is Apollo 11 rocket engines

Elizabeth Landau, CNN
Updated 2:40 PM EDT, Fri July 19, 2013
A team of researchers led by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has recovered pieces of the engines of the Saturn V rocket that sent astronauts to space during the Apollo era. This is the "Saturn V stage structure."
Saturn V engine parts —
A team of researchers led by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has recovered pieces of the engines of the Saturn V rocket that sent astronauts to space during the Apollo era. This is the "Saturn V stage structure."
Bezos Expeditions
This is a thrust chamber. "Many of the original serial numbers are missing or partially missing, which is going to make mission identification difficult," Bezos said on his website.
Saturn V engine parts —
This is a thrust chamber. "Many of the original serial numbers are missing or partially missing, which is going to make mission identification difficult," Bezos said on his website.
Bezos Expeditions
The thrust chamber and fuel manifold, pulled out of the ocean. "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," Bezos wrote.
Saturn V engine parts —
The thrust chamber and fuel manifold, pulled out of the ocean. "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," Bezos wrote.
This is a heat exchanger, Bezos' website said.
Saturn V engine parts —
This is a heat exchanger, Bezos' website said.
Bezos Expeditions
This is a nozzle. "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 on his website.
Saturn V engine parts —
This is a nozzle. "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 on his website.
Apollo mission engines recovered

Story highlights

Conservator found serial number of Apollo 11 rocket engine

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had sought to confirm engines were from that famous mission

A Bezos-led team recovered the engines in March from the depths of the Atlantic

Saturday marks the 44th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing

CNN  — 

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos rescued sunken treasure in the Atlantic this year: components of two F-1 rocket engines. Now he says he has verified that they are engines from Apollo 11, the first mission that took U.S. astronauts to the moon.

The timing, as Bezos is aware, is appropriate. Saturday is the anniversary of the 1969 moon landing.

“44 years ago tomorrow Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, and now we have recovered a critical technological marvel that made it all possible,” Bezos wrote on his blog.

Bezos congratulated the conservation team at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas, for its efforts.

One of the conservators discovered that the number “2044” had been stenciled in black paint on the side of one of the massive thrust chambers. He found it while using a black light and a special lens filter.

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    This 2044 was not a mystery. According to Bezos, it corresponds to NASA number 6044, the serial number for F-1 Engine No. 5 from the Apollo 11 mission.

    The conservator continued his work on this thrust chamber and, after removing more corrosion, found a stamp on the metal surface that said “Unit No 2044.”

    “Conservation is painstaking work that requires remarkable levels of patience and attention to detail, and these guys have both,” Bezos said of the Kansas conservators.

    Jeff Bezos said a conservator identified a serial number proving the a rocket engine came from the Apollo 11 program.
    Jeff Bezos said a conservator identified a serial number proving the a rocket engine came from the Apollo 11 program.
    Bezos Expeditions