Gold Plated Saturn V F-1 Engine Model

Gold Plated Saturn V F-1 Engine Model

The model of a Saturn V F-1 rocket engine is plated in an alloy of gold and copper. It was made by a Dutch model maker, Pascal Becker, for a private commission. The park bench helps to give an idea of the scale of the engine, which in reality measured 5.8 metres tall and 3.7 meters wide. Five of these huge engines powered the first stage of the Saturn V rocket, which famously sent the first astronauts to the Moon. Fifty years later, the F-1 remains the most powerful rocket engine ever flown.

To lift Saturn V off the launch pad, the F-1 engines produced 7.5 million pounds of thrust. Using kerosene and liquid oxygen as propellants, they launched the rocket to an altitude of 42 miles. At this point the first stage separated and fell back to Earth, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. The second and third stages continued to blast the astronauts out of Earth’s atmosphere and off to the Moon.

In 2012 amazon founder Jeff Bezos funded an expedition to find the fallen F-1 engines, which had lain on the sea bed for more than forty years. The team managed to recover parts of the historic F-1s from depths 4,300 metres, which is deeper than the wreck of the Titanic. They are now on display in the United States.

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• On Loan from the Model Rocket Shop