Amazon boss rescues Apollo 11 rocket engines from ocean

One of the more interesting stories to emerge today focuses on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. He has been pumping his own money into rescuing the Apollo 11 Rocket engines from the Atlantic Ocean.

The five F1 engines were discharged during the flight and they dropped into the Atlantic Ocean 40 years ago. No one knew were they had fallen until recently.

Bezos announced on his ‘expeditions' blog page that a team of underwater experts had found the engines, 14,000 feet below sea level on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

“The F-1 rocket engine is still a modern wonder — one and a half million pounds of thrust, 32 million horsepower, and burning 6,000 pounds of rocket grade kerosene and liquid oxygen every second. On July 16, 1969, the world watched as five particular F-1 engines fired in concert, beginning the historic Apollo 11 mission. Those five F-1s burned for just a few minutes, and then plunged back to Earth into the Atlantic Ocean, just as NASA planned. A few days later, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon.”

He added “I'm excited to report that, using state-of-the-art deep sea sonar, the team has found the Apollo 11 engines lying 14,000 feet below the surface, and we're making plans to attempt to raise one or more of them from the ocean floor. We don't know yet what condition these engines might be in – they hit the ocean at high velocity and have been in salt water for more than 40 years. On the other hand, they're made of tough stuff, so we'll see.”

Bezos plans to have the first engine made available for viewing in the Smithsonian, and the second potentially displayed at the Museum Of Flight in Seattle, the home of Amazon headquarters. The engines may be NASA property still, but the Amazon CEO says that no public money is being used for the rescue mission.

Bezos said “NASA is one of the few institutions I know that can inspire five-year-olds. It sure inspired me, and with this endeavor, maybe we can inspire a few more youth to invent and explore.”

Kitguru says: Bezos, a rich child at heart.

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