NASA Administrator Congratulates Apollo Engine Recovery Team

News provided by

Mar 20, 2013, 12:19 ET

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the successful recovery of Apollo Saturn V first stage engines announced Wednesday by Jeff Bezos, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the aerospace company Blue Origin and Amazon.com.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO)

"Nearly one year ago, Jeff Bezos shared with us his plans to recover F-1 engines that helped power Apollo astronauts to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. We share the excitement expressed by Jeff and his team in announcing the recovery of two of the powerful Saturn V first-stage engines from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

"This is a historic find and I congratulate the team for its determination and perseverance in the recovery of these important artifacts of our first efforts to send humans beyond Earth orbit.

"We look forward to the restoration of these engines by the Bezos team and applaud Jeff's desire to make these historic artifacts available for public display.

"Jeff and his colleagues at Blue Origin are helping to usher in a new commercial era of space exploration and we are confident our continued collaboration will soon result in private human access to space, creating jobs and driving America's leadership in innovation and exploration."

For more about the Saturn V's F-1 engine and NASA, visit:
http://go.nasa.gov/ZdnMo2

and
http://www.nasa.gov

For more on the Bezos Expeditions, visit:
http://www.bezosexpeditions.com/updates.html

SOURCE NASA