Bezos-Apollo
An expedition led by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pulled up Apollo's engines from the ocean floor. The team is now headed back to Cape Canaveral. (bezosexpeditions.com)

Amazon CEO pulls Apollo engines from ocean floor

BY Stephanie Klein  on March 20, 2013 @ 12:08 pm (Updated: 1:07 pm - 3/20/13 )

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Two mammoth rocket engines that helped boost Apollo astronauts to the moon have been fished out of the Atlantic.

An expedition led by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pulled up the engines and is headed back to Cape Canaveral, Fla., after three weeks at sea.

Bezos and NASA announced the recovery on Wednesday.

"We're bringing home enough major components to fashion displays of two flown F-1 engines," Bezos wrote on the Blue Origins website.

The sunken engines were part of the mighty Saturn V rocket used to fly astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s. After liftoff, they fell into the ocean as planned.

Bezos wrote in depth about the images of the debris scattered across the ocean floor.

"The buoyancy of the ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) looks every bit like microgravity. The blackness of the horizon. The gray and colorless ocean floor."

The engines are the property of NASA. The space agency congratulated Bezos on his efforts. The team planned to restore the artifacts for later display.

Bezos' space company, Blue Origins, has a NASA contract to develop a private space taxi to the International Space Station.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Stephanie Klein, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Stephanie joined the MyNorthwest.com team in February 2008. She has built the site into a two-time National Edward R. Murrow Award winner (Best Radio Website 2010, 2012).
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Comments (6)


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  • ToldYa wrote...
    The engines are the property of NASA.
    March 20, 2013 4:34 pm
    maritime law would say otherwise... finders keepers, loosers weepers.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Was it a V8 or 6 cylinder ?
    March 20, 2013 4:36 pm
    what was the gas mileage?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ratrustle wrote...
    Pretty Cool...
    March 20, 2013 6:43 pm
    I really appreciate that the "local guys" who made good are using their money as a tool to do stuff like this. First I've heard of Bezos doing anything. Bill Gates and Paul Allen are leaving tremendous legacies. Too bad for Howard Schultz -- he seems destined to be the guy that sold the Sonics...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    Howie Schultz is a schmuck
    March 20, 2013 8:56 pm
    Now that I have that out of the way, I don't agree with Bezo's marketing, but what a cool way to spend the money he's made. ToldYa, who says the engines lie beneath international waters? Did I miss something?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Loud Larry wrote...
    Howard Schultz is a...
    March 20, 2013 10:34 pm
    ...civic rapist
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    A deal with the CIA, a deal with NASA....
    March 21, 2013 12:11 pm
    Time to delete that Amazon account...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }