The Seabed Worker’s unique wake trailed to the east as the morning sun glowed on the NASA vehicle assembly building in the west. After more than 40 years on the bottom of the ocean, the F-1 engines were returning to NASA and back to the famous Apollo launching grounds at Cape Canaveral. The team had set out prepared to recover three massive Apollo 11 engines near the Bermuda Triangle in water depths of over 14,000 feet...

We had located our first engine. The engine was heavily damaged with no identifying features visible. We decided to move on to the next debris field in hopes of finding an intact engine with a serial number which would confirm the mission origin. The sonar specialist provided the corrected target position to the navigator who plugged coordinates into the navigation software. The ROV pilot turned and slowly applied forward thrust on a heading that would take...

The recovery team arrived in Bermuda a few days ahead of the ship. The hours were filled with dozens of logistical items requiring attention, including the storage of spare equipment, last minute loading of fresh food and numerous planning sessions. Team leaders met to finalize plans for operations aboard the ship. The Seabed Worker would stay in Bermuda less than eight hours and the transition had to flow smoothly to ensure a timely departure. Transit to the recovery...

Attempting to recover three massive Apollo F-1 engines in water depths over 14,000 feet or 4,300 meters is no easy feat. Marine salvage is a highly specialized skill with only a handful of experienced companies able to execute deepwater salvage. The challenge was to locate the assets which could successfully recover rocket motors potentially weighing nine tons from the deep ocean. So what's it take to recover three nine-ton engines from over 14,000 fsw (feet of...

Undeniably one of last century's greatest achievements was man stepping foot on the moon. And while technology continues marching forward, there is one famous icon of those lunar landings that has not yet been bested. The F-1 rocket engine is still the most powerful single chamber, liquid-fueled rocket engine ever developed. One of the engines which propelled Neil Armstrong to that famous first step, is now lovingly being restored at the Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center. How did it get...