Posted 4/08/2004 05:36:00 PM by Douglas

Save our rocket!

The rocket's owner, the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, is hoping a $4 million preservation project and a new home indoors will save it for future generations to see.

Over the years, it also has been battered by torrential rains and seared by the relentless sun of the Texas Gulf Coast. Mold and plants grow from its surfaces; owls and rodents have taken up residence inside.

I'd hate to see it rust into pieces, but I think it's a fascinating footnote to our space program. Here's the keywords: It's in a museum. If we were still flying something into space regularly, and not just low Earth orbit, then this wouldn't be much of an issue. We wouldn't need to remember these great feats. They'd be commonplace.

Saving the rocket, Bilstein said, is "kind of like saving the first vessel that the Vikings sent to the shores of North America."

"It's an absolutely unique historical artifact," he said.

That may be a bit hyperbolic. Ok, Apollo was very important to our society, but when you get down to it, the three surviving Saturn Vs are basically ornamental. What about the very first Model T produced? It's not nearly as important to anyone but a collector. Why? Because they churn out 5 million Fords every year.

So I guess I'm glad they're taking steps to preserve it, but it's sad to see that they have to. That rocket should have been rusting in the bottom of the Atlantic for the last 30 years, instead of providing shelter for Texas wildlife.