The Museum of Flight in Tukwila on May 20 will open an exhibit about the American and Soviet Space Race to the moon during the 1960s.
It tells a story of individuals taming powerful new technologies to fulfill impossible dreams. The exhibit will also be the first public display of the long-lost rocket engines that launched Apollo astronauts to the moon.
The historic Apollo 12 and 16 F-1 engines that boosted the Saturn V Moon rockets were lost at the bottom of the sea for 43 years until discovered and raised by Seattle-based Bezos Expeditions in 2013. The sunken remains were the last missing links to the first adventures to another world. The aged and sculptural artifacts still show the scars of their service and of resting in the depths. They will now solemnly punctuate the museum’s new exhibit about the dramatic adventure of spaceflight through the post-Apollo ebb in the 1970s.
The exhibit will also feature many other unique artifacts from the Space Race, including moon rocks, a lunar roving moon buggy, the only Viking Mars lander on Earth, space suits and the first Apollo spacecraft.
The museum’s Charles Simonyi Space Gallery on the West Campus will continue with the story of the space shuttle, plus the latest in current and future spaceflight.
The Museum of Flight is at 9404 E. Marginal Way S. For more information call 206-764-5720 or visit museumofflight.org.
Jeff Bezos with part of the Apollo 12 F-1 engine at The Museum of Flight during a ceremony shortly after its arrival at the museum. Bezos Expeditions discovered this and other F-1 engine remains in the Atlantic Ocean. COURTESY PHOTO/Museum of Flight
