posted 02-05-2017 09:08 PM               

Are you interested in helping restore the rockets in Rocket Park? We were asked recently if the alumni and volunteers would be interested in helping.

posted 06-12-2018 05:38 PM               

The goal is to raise $20 million before two big anniversaries ahead: the 50th anniversary of the manned moon landing in 2019 and the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center itself in 2020.

[Director and CEO Dr. Deborah] Barnhart said the restoration, which began with the removal of the first outside rockets on Monday, "will create a once-in-a-generation opportunity for companies and individuals to commemorate these accomplishments by sponsoring these new areas."

The new display will include a rocket path from the Saturn 1 to the Saturn V linking the center's original building and the Davidson Center for Space Exploration.

The first step was a structural analysis of the outside rockets, some of which have been out in the elements behind the center since 1969. The Saturn V replica beside I-565 is structurally sound, Barnhart said, but it needs sealing and recoating. It will be the first to be preserved.

The first of the real rockets restored will be the Mercury-Redstone and the Jupiter C, Barnhart said.

posted 05-02-2022 04:43 PM               

Does anyone know if the missing rockets are still around somewhere? I'd speculate that they had some corrosion issues from the Alabama climate and were taken down due to safety hazards and/or so they could be restored.

Hope to see them again at some point!