Author Topic: NASA sets grand opening July 20 for restored Saturn V rocket  (Read 9260 times)

Offline jacqmans

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July 10, 2007

James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111



Report #J07-012

NASA SETS GRAND OPENING JULY 20 FOR RESTORED SATURN V ROCKET

HOUSTON -- NASA's Johnson Space Center will host the grand opening of a restored Houston landmark and national treasure, the immense Saturn V rocket resting at the space center gate, on July 20, 38 years to the day after men first walked on the moon.

The 30-story tall rocket is part of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum collection and one of only three such rockets in existence. Media are invited to attend a ribbon cutting for the facility at 11:30 a.m.

Speakers at the event will include astronauts and moonwalkers John Young and Alan Bean as well as astronauts Walt Cunningham, who flew on the Apollo 7 flight in earth orbit, and Joe Kerwin, who flew in an Apollo spacecraft to the Skylab space station. Apollo-era flight director Chris Kraft, National Air and Space Museum curator Allen Needell, and JSC Center Director Mike Coats also will participate.

Interviews to take place at the ceremony should be arranged in advance by contacting Debbie Sharp at 281/483-4942.

The Saturn V facility will open to the public July 21. On that day, NASA representatives will be on hand from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to answer questions about the Saturn V as well as NASA's Constellation Program to return humans to the moon. Beginning July 22, the facility will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Saturn V is one of the largest and most significant artifacts in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum collection. It has been on loan to Johnson since 1977. The Saturn V remains the most powerful rocket ever built, and it was launched 13 times from 1967 to 1973. Eight of the missions it launched traveled to the moon, and six landed there. The final Saturn V launch in 1973 put Skylab, America's first space station, in orbit.

The Saturn V at Johnson had been exposed to the elements for more than 20 years while on display. The exposure had caused extensive corrosion and degradation. In 1999, the National Air and Space Museum applied for a grant to preserve the rocket through the Save America's Treasures Program, the centerpiece of the White House National Millennium Commemoration. For the preservation, the museum received funds from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Houston Endowment, Halliburton and other sources. Matching funds were provided by the National Park Service.

The goal was to return the rocket to a condition matching as closely as possible the way it would have appeared on the launch pad. The project team erected a climate-controlled building to house the rocket, designed and executed a testing program to evaluate the effectiveness of cleaning and repair treatments, developed a data management system for recording and retrieving information gathered, and stabilized and conserved the Saturn V to arrest its deterioration and make it suitable for display. The restoration ensures the Saturn V will remain on exhibit to inform and inspire many generations of visitors to come. The preservation work was performed by Conservation Solutions, Inc. of Washington, D.C.

For more information about NASA's plans to return to the moon, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration
Jacques :-)

Offline wingod

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These are the same folks that are doing the restoration on the Saturn V in Huntsville, that was just moved into its new building today!



Offline Oberon_Command

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Wait, is the rocket going to be assembled vertically? I really want to see that...

Offline collectSPACE

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Neither the JSC or Huntsville Saturn Vs are vertical. At the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Alabama there is a vertical mock-up, though.

For background on the JSC rocket, see: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-030104a.html

You can see the Huntsville Saturn V being moved (live) here: http://www.spacecamp.com/saturnv/?page=Web%20Cameras

Offline collectSPACE

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'Houston, we have a restored moon rocket'
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-072007a.html

Quote
With managers, moonwalkers and the media watching, NASA's Johnson Space Center opened Friday a facility designed to protect and display the last remaining 363-foot Saturn V rocket to be assembled from parts once capable of launching astronauts to the Moon.
(Includes comments from JSC director Mike Coats, Congressman Nick Lampson, astronauts John Young and Joe Kerwin, as well as Constellation manager Jeff Hanley.)

Offline grakenverb

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In the article it is stated that the building that houses the Saturn V at JSC was designed to last only 10 years.  Is that right? Why go to all the trouble to design and build something to preserve a priceless national treasure that itself must be replaced after only  10 years?

Online DaveS

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grakenverb - 26/7/2007  1:10 AM

In the article it is stated that the building that houses the Saturn V at JSC was designed to last only 10 years.  Is that right? Why go to all the trouble to design and build something to preserve a priceless national treasure that itself must be replaced after only  10 years?
Money? Maybe they couldn't afford something more longer lasting? Remember, most of the money went into restoring the main piece, the Saturn V. So they used what they had left for the display building and a ten-year building was what they could afford.
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Offline grakenverb

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I just hope that the "10 year building" doesn't suffer the same fate as the building that collapsed and destroyed the Buran.  I would hate to read in 12 years that a category 1 hurricane destoyed the building, which in turn destroyed the S-V

Offline AstroRJY

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Does anyone have a photo of the  restored Saturn V to show on the site?

Offline collectSPACE

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grakenverb - 25/7/2007  6:10 PM

In the article it is stated that the building that houses the Saturn V at JSC was designed to last only 10 years.  Is that right?

From one of our earlier articles on the topic:

Quote
How temporary the building will be is yet to be seen.

"Its a temporary building for 10 years," replied [Conservation Solutions' Project Manager Jee] Skavdahl to an AIAA member's question. "But I have been told, from various sources, that NASA has temporary buildings that have been here for 30 years, so I really don't know how long this building will remain. There are rumors of a convention center being built. There are rumors of an expansion to the [temporary] building. There was a rumor that they were going to paint a mural of the Saturn V rocket going down a whole side of the building, but that was going to cost half of a million dollars, so I don't think that is going to happen."

I was told last week that the plan for the mural has been replaced by a basic line-drawing/painting of the Saturn V outline that will be added to both sides of the building.

The plan for a convention center/expanded building is still in the (early) works, too, so the temporary building (originally constructed to protect the rocket during the conservation effort) may not stand to see even 10 years...

Offline collectSPACE

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AstroRJY - 25/7/2007  9:03 PM

Does anyone have a photo of the  restored Saturn V to show on the site?
The attached photo courtesy of NASA. Many more pictures can be found here: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-030104a.html

Offline JMS

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The CM just looks wrong to me without the silver mylar strips.
Why did they leave it with the bare resin?

Offline collectSPACE

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JMS - 25/7/2007  12:12 AM

The CM just looks wrong to me without the silver mylar strips. Why did they leave it with the bare resin?
The command module is CM-115, believed to be the last (or at least one of the last) CM that was in construction at the time production was halted. It doesn't have the kapton outer covering because it never reached that point of its assembly. Instead, after arriving at JSC in 1977, both the CM and SM were painted white to "improve" their appearance. Quoting the same article mentioned above:

Quote
"The command module will not be painted when its put back on its display stand. I think this will be the biggest shock to everybody that the command module will not be white. The white paint did not hold up well, the phenolic resin also expands and contracts, holding moisture in. There is a possibility that the Smithsonian will get a boost protective skirt made for it and then it will appear white," explained [Conservation Solutions' Project Manager Jee] Skavdahl.

Offline PhalanxTX

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I took my wife, my mom, and my sister to see it on Saturday.  They've done a bang-up job and I hope they are able to get the funding for a more permanent structure.  As busy as the place was getting as we left, I imagine they probably will.  I'll put the pictures I took on my website this evening and post them here.
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Offline JMS

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collectSPACE - 26/7/2007  12:19 AM
The command module is CM-115, believed to be the last (or at least one of the last) CM that was in construction at the time production was halted. It doesn't have the kapton outer covering because it never reached that point of its assembly.

Thanks for the reply Robert. I guess, more than anything I'm wondering why a semi-authentic representation of the kapton couldn't have been achieved. The bare resin just looks unfinished compared to the rest of the beautiful restoration.

Offline collectSPACE

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JMS - 26/7/2007  3:26 PM

Thanks for the reply Robert. I guess, more than anything I'm wondering why a semi-authentic representation of the kapton couldn't have been achieved.
In addition to limited funds for the effort, you need to consider the difference between a restoration and a conservation/preservation. From the start, the Smithsonian intended this to be a conservation, not a full restoration, which meant priority was given to arresting and repairing damage and stabilizing the vehicle. That CSI was able to restore decals and give the vehicle a good cleaning and paint job was great, but it wasn't what was paramount to the project.

And then you need to ask yourself which is more authentic: changing the appearance of an actual artifact to match a different artifact for appearances sake or preserving an artifact such that adding modern materials doesn't slowly cause its own destruction. JSC painted the CM and SM white to make it look better but in the process, created the problem that led to extensive damage. I'm not opposed to Kapton being added but perhaps it would be better to replace CM-115 with a replica made to look like a flight capsule and then display the real artifact as it was made with an exhibit explaining why it appears the way it does.

Offline JMS

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collectSPACE - 26/7/2007  3:43 PM
...perhaps it would be better to replace CM-115 with a replica made to look like a flight capsule and then display the real artifact as it was made with an exhibit explaining why it appears the way it does.

Excellent idea... especially if the Smithsonian does indeed come up with a replica Boost Protection skirt for the stack.
Thanks again.

Offline dwmzmm

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You'll probably recall the Command Module's surface, during the Apollo missions, had a very reflective gold covering on the surface.  

When looking at the Command Module in person at the restored Saturn - V at JSC, it doesn't look all that bad as it seems in the photos.
I think the guys who did the restoration work did a fantastic job; one of my friend who was in on this project from start to finish, gave me a personal, up close tour of this Saturn before work got fully underway in 2004.  At that time, we could get right under the massive
SI-C & SII tanks.  What I saw (and was shown) was very sad and shocking.  I can tell you that the "before" and "after" is as clear as
night and day.
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

Offline JMS

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dwmzmm - 26/7/2007  7:55 PM

You'll probably recall the Command Module's surface, during the Apollo missions, had a very reflective gold covering on the surface.  

That is incorrect. The surface was never gold, it was silver.
That is a misconception perpetuated even down to the Revell 1/32 Apollo CSM plastic model.

The CM on display at KSC is accurate.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/176728main_modules.jpg

As is the ASTP CM on display as NASM.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal114/SpaceRace/images/astpview.jpg

Flown CM's on display are the major cause of the confusion.
Reentry burned away the silver kapton and left the underlying resin with a gold appearance.
http://aesp.nasa.okstate.edu/fieldguide/pages/apollo/ASTP.html
Look closely at the Hi-Res versions of the images here and you can see some remnants of the kapton remain.

Offline dwmzmm

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JMS - 26/7/2007  8:09 PM

Quote
dwmzmm - 26/7/2007  7:55 PM

You'll probably recall the Command Module's surface, during the Apollo missions, had a very reflective gold covering on the surface.  

That is incorrect. The surface was never gold, it was silver.
That is a misconception perpetuated even down to the Revell 1/32 Apollo CSM plastic model.

The CM on display at KSC is accurate.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/176728main_modules.jpg

As is the ASTP CM on display as NASM.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal114/SpaceRace/images/astpview.jpg

Flown CM's on display are the major cause of the confusion.
Reentry burned away the silver kapton and left the underlying resin with a gold appearance.
http://aesp.nasa.okstate.edu/fieldguide/pages/apollo/ASTP.html
Look closely at the Hi-Res versions of the images here and you can see some remnants of the kapton remain.

JMS, are you sure that 1/32 Apollo CSM model isn't Monogram?! (I have one)  ;)
Dave, NAR # 21853 SR.

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