F-1 Engine (Davidson Center)

The USSRC displays F-1 rocket engine F-6045 indoors on its dolly. (Prior to the opening of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, the engine was displayed in Space Hall in the "old" museum).

According to Alan Lawrie's Saturn, F-6045 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-6045 and the remaining two. F-6045 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.

F-6045 was apparently moved to the USSRC some time between June 2004 (my last visit before seeing the engine) and June 2005 (my first visit where I photographed the engine).

Interestingly enough, the Udvar-Hazy Center once displayed F-1 engine F-6049 (another engine removed from S-IC-11 after the fire), mated with F-6045's nozzle extension. F-6049 has subsequently been moved to the Marshall Space Flight Center (where its gas generator was removed and test-fired in early 2013), and F-6045's nozzle extension still accompanies the engine.

Most F-1 engines are displayed with their nozzle extensions installed (although I understand that the New Mexico Museum of Space History, which I have not yet visited, displays their F-1 with the nozzle extension separated from the engine). Along with the odd nozzle extension which may be unattached from time to time at Marshall Space Flight Center, this presents a rare opportunity to see details of the engine not normally visible.

In its previous home in Space Hall in the "old" museum and during its early stay in the Davidson Center, this rocket engine was a free-standing exhibit, just an engine on its dolly. However, in summer of 2009 the engine was incorporated into a larger exhibit called "The Force." The exhibit is packed with great information and fascinating, obscure, propulsion-related artifacts, but it does limit one's access to the engine. I didn't get a complete walk-around of the engine prior to it becoming one with The Force (as a Jedi Knight might say ...), so the walk-around photos are a mixture of photos from before and after the exhibit went up.

I have a number of F-1-related resources.

As of now, I have not yet sorted through all of my pictures of F-1 F-6045, but some other page references this location. Thus, this is a "place holder" version right now, with only the pictures actually referenced. Come back some time later to see if I've finished up, or drop me an email to request me to prioritize the rest of these pictures.