Topic: Apollo Boilerplate-19 to 'drop-in' at Downey
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted April 05, 2007 11:55 PM
Apollo Boilerplate-12 (BP-12) will not be alone at the new Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center in Downey, California. Current plans show that when the center opens in 2008, the command module-shaped test capsule will be joined by another, Boilerplate-19 (BP-19), on exhibit in the center's lobby. BP-19 was thought to be under the control of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, according to A Field Guide to American Spacecraft.
The two spacecraft will be dedicated to the legacy of all who worked at Downey to help America to be the first nation to allow mankind to walk on the Moon.
BP-19 was constructed in Downey, California by North American Aviation and accepted for use by NASA in 1963. It was used in parachute tests at Naval Air Station China Lake and was later configured as a Block II type vehicle. It has been on outside display in a gazebo for many years at the Apollo Park in Lancaster, CA. It is owned by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, which has approved it moving to Downey. It is planned to be moved to its new home late this year.
BP-19. Credit: Rob Godwin, Apogee Books, used with permission
Thursday, April 12 will mark the groundbreaking of the new Columbia Memorial Space Science and Learning Center in Downey, CA at 4:30 p.m. The public is invited. The address is 12214 Lakewood Blvd., Downey, CA outside Downey Landing Studios.
More information can be found on the website of the Aerospace Legacy Foundation. Follow the links to the Columbia Learning Center on our front page.
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 10, 2008 06:43 PM
Hello Apollo fans! The Smithsonian Apollo test article is coming home on July 16th, and we want to invite collectSPACE members to see it arrive!
The City of Downey, with assistance from the Aerospace Legacy Foundation and Industrial Reality Group (who now own the historic NASA/NAA Apollo production site) will receive a second Apollo Command Module Boilerplate by truck on July 16 after 12 noon at the main gate of Downey Studios. It will, after restoration, be exhibited in the new Columbia Memorial Space Center, which when open this winter, will tell the story of the history of the site while preparing youth to take trips into space in the future. They will do this utilizing the Challenger Learning Center inside. The Apollo boilerplate is on loan from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and will be trucked from Lancaster, CA.
The new Columbia Memorial Space Center and Aerospace Legacy offices will have limited access while we await the two spaceship test articles to be unloaded. Some veterans of Apollo and shuttle programs who worked at the site will be available for questions. Arrival time is expected within a three hour window between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m..
The two Apollo boilerplate test articles are from the earliest periods of America's lunar exploration program. Apollo Boilerplate #12, which is already on the site was flown and recovered on the first Apollo test flight on May 13, 1964. Thereafter, it was used on at least two impact tests at Downey before being given to the local union hall until it was recovered by Downey last year. Apollo Boilerplate #19 was carried aloft at least nine times and used in parachute drop tests over El Centro Naval Station before it was given by NASA to the Smithsonian. It has for many years been on display in Lancaster.
Can't be here on July 16? The City of Downey will be having a program and ceremony at a later date where city officials will have both test articles open for public inspection before they are prepared for display.
AFGAS Member
Posts: 89 From: Merritt Island, FL Registered: Feb 2008
posted July 10, 2008 08:05 PM
I'll be anxious to see some pictures!
FFrench Member
Posts: 3002 From: San Diego Registered: Feb 2002
posted July 10, 2008 08:26 PM
Congratulations Jim! It is great to see Downey's legacies return and be recognized like this - looking forward to the continued expansion!
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 11, 2008 04:38 PM
We here in Downey are so proud to be presented with the opportunity to have BP-19 in the new Columbia Memorial Space Center by the Smithsonian.
The City recently announced a few months back the selection of Jon Betthauser to be the new Director and he has been a pleasure to work with. I guess I had better say here that Mr. Betthauser honored me by asking me to assist and advise on exhibit content and illustrations for the Center's exhibits.
The Aerospace Legacy Foundation will have its president, Gerald Blackburn on site advising on the recovery of the test article from Lancaster. He was an engineer on Apollo and Shuttle before he retired to run our Foundation.
A few of the great people who built Apollo will be coming down for the day - so it should make for a nice mini-event.
I hope that a few of the collectSPACErs can come down and say hello.
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 15, 2008 04:11 PM
Yesterday the command module was visually inspected and passed with flying colors. The ID plates were checked to be BP-19 and today it is being cleared of the gazebo that surrounds it and loaded up. The departure time remains at 9:00 a.m. headed for us at Downey afternoon.
Surprisingly, this is the command module that appears in the parachute tests dropping from a C-133 Cargo Master in the recent "Moon Machines: The Command Module" episode.
Amongst the folks that will be here tomorrow will be one of the Apollo-204 accident commission team members, and a few surprises!
Apollo at 39 - we remember!
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 16, 2008 11:52 AM
Happy Apollo day everyone.
As of 10:00 a.m. Pacific time, Boilerplate 19 is starting to be loaded onto its truck in Lancaster.
Meanwhile here in Downey: Apollo BP-12 is loaded and will move in a few minutes back beside the building where it was built (290) for the start of restoration beside BP-19, after it's arrival in a few hours.
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 16, 2008 12:12 PM
As of 10:06 Apollo Boilerplate 12 is at the Restoration site and will be offloaded soon.
Deja vu - I rode my bike beside the capsule on its truck and trailer, trying to keep up. As a boy I dreamed about doing such a thing. What a thing to do as a grown up!
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 16, 2008 06:59 PM
Apollo Boilerplate #19 (BP-19) arrived by truck at almost exactly noon here in Downey.
BP-19 on its lift in front of the Apollo construction high bay at Bldg. 290. This was the clean room where the lunar spacecraft were built (the boilerplates did not need such care and were built in Bldg. 1). Notice that the resin and fiberglass heat shield has already been removed.
As the day was so warm, it arrived uncovered so it must have been an incredible sight to see on the freeways of Los Angeles. About 50 people lined the street beside building #290 where Apollo spacecraft were assembled in a huge white room.
Amongst the visitors was one man who helped work on missile guidance systems here - in 1949! Also present were various news crews and the widow of one of the former company's vice presidents, Eva Thomas.
Also in attendance was "Andy Astronaut" - a long time Apollo staple from the old plant days and open houses. This was his first appearance here in nine years.
After the truck with the capsule stopped in front of the building, the heat shield was removed as the capsule was lifted free of the truck. It was then placed next to its sister spacecraft Boilerplate #12 from the first Little Joe flight of May 1964. Then the suspense was too much and the hatch was opened by the Columbia Space Center Director Jon Betthauser, and we could see inside BP-19 for the first time in 35 years.
It was exceptionally nice inside except for some debris in the capsule's base caused from an opening in the roof from many years ago it seems. It still has its rigging and weights inside, and it will make for a beautiful display of how Apollo appeared during the heyday of its testing before it took man to the moon.
Happy Apollo 11 launch anniversary.
Above, below: BP-19 being swung into its restoration area.
Photographs courtesy JayCee Cruz, Aerospace Legacy Foundation
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 16, 2008 08:37 PM
BP-19's resin fiberglas composite heat shield used for the drop tests has stood up to many years in the high desert.
Columbia Memorial Space Center Director Jon Betthauser holds the hatch that he just removed from BP-19 and it's ID plate mounted on it. To the right is Aerospace Legacy Foundation Director Jerry Blackburn.
(There was an ID plate on the heat shield also - I got to see it first and I laughed as I read it aloud for the crowd - it said- "Heat Shield. Made at NAA- Downey, CA")
Boilerplate BP-12 with "Andy Astronaut" striking his best Major Matt pose. Andy Monsen had been the resident astronaut figure at the plant from 1979-1999. You can't see inside his face plate so people would not know who he was - and not mistake Andy for our real astronaut heroes.
Photographs courtesy JayCee Cruz, Aerospace Legacy Foundation
I want to thank the City of Downey and the Columbia Memorial Space Center for allowing those who came down to see this event, and the IRG group who owns the site for allowing us to come onto the property.
The Aerospace Legacy Foundation supports the center and was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the center.
We are excited about the future, and hope that you will be a part of this!
dtemple Member
Posts: 556 From: Longview, Texas, USA Registered: Apr 2000
posted July 16, 2008 08:55 PM
Will both boilerplate Apollo CMs be restored to their original as tested appearance?
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 16, 2008 11:50 PM
Both Boilerplates are planned to be restored to the way they appeared during their testing. BP-19 doesn't need all that much, but has to be approved by the Smithsonian. BP-12 we hope to get it to appear as it did with an escape tower and service module, perhaps. But it needs more work than the other, and we need to find funding to restore it as it appeared in 1964.
FFrench Member
Posts: 3002 From: San Diego Registered: Feb 2002
posted July 17, 2008 10:00 AM
Jim, any time you need need me and Colin Burgess to come back and do more of the heavy lifting, just let us know!
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 17, 2008 01:08 PM
It is always great when you can get a little hard labor from famous writers!
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 17, 2008 03:58 PM
Additional photos courtesy Michelle Evans with the Orange County Space Society.
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted July 18, 2008 06:34 PM
As you can see Jon Betthauser was happy to open the hatch to the media.
Did you notice that BP-12 is smiling at the base where the heatshield is attached near the painted thrusters? For all you face on Mars fans! Happy to be joined by her sibling craft.
KCBS had some online TV of the event. This includes his blog w/other photos and a good view of the interior.
E2M Lem Man Member
Posts: 757 From: Los Angeles CA. USA Registered: Jan 2005
posted February 11, 2011 07:58 PM
I am laid up right now for another month, but I received this news today from the Aerospace Legacy Foundation President, a spaceship has landed on Earth and it came back to Downey!
Apollo Boilerplate 19...
Apollo Boilerplate 19 exhibit installed at the Columbia Memorial Space Center at Downey California.
posted April 05, 2007 11:55 PM
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