"44 years ago tomorrow Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, and now we have recovered a critical technological marvel that made it all possible," says Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. One of the conservators working with his team to scan objects recovered from the sea floor near Cape Canveral, Florida, has made a new discovery: "2044," stenciled in black paint on the side of one of the massive thrust chambers.
2044 is the Rocketdyne serial number that correlates to NASA number 6044, which is the serial number for F-1 Engine #5 from Apollo 11. The intrepid conservator kept digging for more evidence, and after removing more corrosion at the base of the same thrust chamber, he found it – "Unit No 2044" – stamped into the metal surface.
F-1 Engine Recovery Update, and more in our previous coverage of the recovery mission. [Bezos Expeditions]
