heroicrelics.org
Return to U.S. Space & Rocket Center

J-2 Engines in Building 7241

These engines were located in Building 7241 at the Redstone Arsenal in early 2009, just west of the intersection of Magazine Rd. and Deerberry Rd., located in the "7200" area in the lower right of my Redstone Arsenal map. Aerial view. The USSRC at one time stored excess artifacts in several buildings on Redstone Arsenal.

Building 7241 is long and skinny, and the three engines, on their engine handlers (transportation dollies), were lined up in a row. Various crates and miscellaneous equipment were stacked up against the walls of the warehouse, leaving relatively little room to walk (or take photographs) on either side of the engines.

The engines were all bare, just the thrust chamber, LOX dome, and turbine exhaust manifold, appearing very much like they did when on the assembly line. They all had the original red Rocketdyne covers over the exit plane of the thrust chambers, and the remaining openings on the engine were protected with white tape. At least one of the engines had the red cover around the thrust chamber and at least one had some sort of white banding around the thrust chamber; I don't remember what was on the third.

Since the engines were all basically in the same "raw" condition, and in the interest of time, I took detailed photos of only one engine (although I wish I'd have taken a couple of pictures of the engine with the red cover around the thrust chamber).

Alan Lawrie did some research on these engines and produced the following findings: "Four J-2 engines were disassembled after the program concluded and parts were used in various development tests. The disassembled engines were stored at Michoud before being transferred in 2008 to USSRC for restoration which was taking place in building 7241 at Redstone Arsenal. These engines are (or were originally before disassembly) J-2103, J-2133, J-2146 and J-2148."

I would encounter two of these thrust chambers again over the years: I saw one on its engine handler in the summer of 2009 and then that same one, removed from its handler, in 2013, 2014, and 2016 (and the Google Maps aerial coverage as of June 2025 indicates that it's still there at this time).

The other thrust chamber was transferred to the University of Alabama at Huntsville in mid-2019.

I have a number of J-2-related resources.

 
dsc59759.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59759.jpg
dsc59763.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59763.jpg
dsc59779.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59779.jpg
dsc59780.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59780.jpg
dsc59765.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59765.jpg
dsc59772.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59772.jpg
dsc59777.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59777.jpg
dsc59768.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59768.jpg
dsc59771.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59771.jpg
dsc59778.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59778.jpg
dsc59797.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59797.jpg
dsc59800.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59800.jpg
dsc59808.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59808.jpg
dsc59807.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59807.jpg
dsc59804.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59804.jpg
dsc59803.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59803.jpg
dsc59813.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59813.jpg
dsc59814.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59814.jpg
dsc59815.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59815.jpg
dsc59822.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59822.jpg
dsc59830.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59830.jpg
dsc59823.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59823.jpg
dsc59833.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59833.jpg
dsc59834.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59834.jpg
dsc59835.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59835.jpg
dsc59828.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59828.jpg
dsc59829.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59829.jpg
dsc59826.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59826.jpg
dsc59827.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59827.jpg
dsc59773.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59773.jpg
dsc59776.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59776.jpg
dsc59810.jpg at U.S. Space & Rocket Center
dsc59810.jpg
heroicrelics.org
Return to U.S. Space & Rocket Center