Amazon CEO rescues Apollo 11 engines from ocean floor

In 1969 five engines of the Apollo 11 disengaged from the spacecraft to plunge into the Atlantic Ocean, sitting three miles under the surface for more than 40 years. Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO wanted to rescue these engines from the murky depths with the goal of resurrecting them.

Jeff Bezos said in a blog post “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.”

After 40 years, the engines have suffered from a lot of corrosion and some are missing the original serial numbers, making the identification process more tricky. Bezos will be working directly with NASA to restore two of the engines hardware and to stop corrosion. The plan is to put them on public display as a part of history.

Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator said “Nearly one year ago, Jeff Bezos shared with us his plans to recover F-1 engines that helped power Apollo astronauts to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. We share the excitement expressed by Jeff and his team in announcing the recovery of two of the powerful Saturn V first-stage engines from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Bezos worked with NASA on the recovery mission, although the missions was completely privately funded. NASA still claim full ownership of the engines.

Billionaire Bezos has his own private space company called Blue Origin and he puts a lot of money into futuristic projects. He spent $42 million for instance to place a 10,000 year old clock in the mountains near one of his homes.

Kitguru says: Bezos remains a man on a mission.

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