F-1 Engine F-6049

The Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center formerly displayed F-1 engine F-6049, until the engine was recalled in May 2012 (the picture's caption is wrong). F-6049's gas generator was removed and test-fired in support of the Space Launch System.

I was able to photograph the engine in building 4205 during my July 2012 visit to MSFC to see the disassembled F-1 engine. F-6049 was, at the time, stored in the same room as F-6090's thrust chamber. Since I had limited time to photograph the disassembled engine, I limited my photography of F-6049 to a single photo.

According to Alan Lawrie's Saturn, F-6049 was originally installed on S-IC-11, Apollo 16's first stage. During static firing, a different engine caught on fire, causing major damage to two engines and minor damage to F-6049 and the remaining two. F-6049 was initially refurbished in-place, but was later swapped out during post-firing refurbishment. It eventually as placed in environmental storage at the Michoud Assembly Facility, where it under went an audit in 1990.

Udvar-Hazy displayed this engine with the nozzle extension from F-6045 (another engine removed from S-IC-11 after the fire), which is currently displayed at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. I've suggested to the USSRC curator that he might look into acquiring the nozzle extension and reuniting it with its engine, but both F-6049 and nozzle extension F-6045 were transferred to Seattle's Museum of Flight in March 2017, preventing any such reunion.