SPACE CAMP

The Saturn 5 Special

(The Davidson Center for Space Exploration)

By Phil Reeder

Welcome to a Space Camp special created by me to tell the story of an incredible machine’s journey to its new home. Whilst it is a journey which has only covered a few Earthly miles, it is true to say that it is a journey which has taken many, many years to complete. A journey which has finally led this huge machine to a new home, a home which is nearly as magnificent as the machine it was created to house.

I am a firm believer in the old adage that "a picture can say a thousand words" and so whilst there will be some words in this story I am going to let the pictures that you see speak for themselves.

Before I start I would like to take this opportunity to say a really big thank you to two very special people for all the help, advise and background information and material they have provided me with, without which I could not have written this story:-

Irene Willhite, curator and archivist at the US Space and Rocket Center brings to her job a devotion and commitment which will ensure that today’s visitors to the US Space and Rocket Center, and visitors far into the future, will be able enjoy and experience firsthand the spacefaring achievements of the past.

Ed Buckbee, who from 1970 to 1994 was the first Director of the US Space and Rocket Center and who worked with Dr Wernher Von Braun to turn Von Braun’s dream of a US Space and Rocker Center into a reality. Ed would go on to help in the creation of Space Camp which has enabled both the young, and the young at heart, to experience first hand exactly what it is like to train in an aero-space environment and to help young people of all ages develop the skills necessary for their future roles in society.

To you both my thanks

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This is a story about dreams and ambitions, caring and commitment.

My story starts with a young German rocket scientist named Wernher Von Braun. Von Braun had a dream of putting a man into space. His dream would turn into a life long ambition which would one day enable humankind to walk on the surface of another world.

A majority of the space enthusiasts who are hopefully reading this story already know the history of Wernher Von Braun from the time of his entry into the United States at the end of World War 2 as part of Project Paperclip, to the role he played in the development of various missiles for the US Army, and the work he did for NASA in the development of the boosters which would take America’s first satellite, and then first astronauts into space. You may also know about the further work he did involving the Saturn 1 which would take America’s first Apollo astronauts into Earth orbit, and the final work he did on the Saturn 5 which would eventually take Apollo astronauts to the surface of the Moon, so I do not plan to go into any great detail over ground which has already been more than adequately covered by others.

A smaller majority of the people reading this story will also know of the work played by Von Braun in the creation of the US Space and Rocker Center at Huntsville in Alabama, and the part he played in the creation of Space Camp, so I will not dwell at length on these two topics.

What most people may not know is how the US Space and Rocket Center acquired its own Saturn 5 rocket, and the interesting journey this machine, created for voyagers in space, has made whilst still firmly rooted to the planet Earth.

The story of this incredible journey starts with the plan to build a monument to US spacefaring achievement, "The US Space and Rocket Center". Whilst the "official" plans for work on the physical buildings, the buildings which would one day house an amazing collection of artefacts were taking place, yet another "unofficial" plan was being conceived for a journey which would allow the US Space and Rocket Center to play host to the greatest spacefaring achievement of its day – The Saturn 5 Rocket.

The story, as I have been led to understand it, is that Von Braun wanted the US Space and Rocket Center to have its own Saturn 5 - but how to achieve this incredible feat? The plan he came up was simple, but devious, but I believe shows the enormous commitment this incredible genius had for the achievement he had helped to create, combined with a longing to ensure that generations to come would be able to view first-hand this incredible monument to US spacefaring achievement.

After the final official testing of the various components which make up the Saturn 5 had taken place, Von Braun decided that another official test was required to ensure that the rocket could be successfully moved from one location to another. That was the "official story" of how the move originally came about.

The Saturn 5 started its "official" journey from the Marshall Space Flight Research Center to the still developing site of the new US Space and Rocket Center on the 27th of June 1969; a full four weeks before the historic events that would see America place an astronaut on the surface of another world. Final assembly of the component sections of the Saturn 5 was completed at the still developing site of the new US Space and Rocket Center by February 1970. After this, the "unofficial" part of the plan took over. When the final sections of the Saturn 5 had finally came to a halt, Von Braun had the giant rocket declared a national monument, meaning that it could never be moved again, and this is exactly what happened for the next thirty-eight years.

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Sadly the next thirty-eight years were not kind to this vast monument to US spacefaring achievement. The weather, which I have had the opportunity to witness first hand during my last few years at Space Camp, took its toll on a rocket that was fully exposed to the elements, and despite what appears to have been an ongoing project to keep the Saturn 5 in a pristine condition, this grand old lady of US space achievement was in danger of near total disintegration.

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With the great rocket in such terrible danger a plan had to be found to preserve it, so that future generations to come would be able to view its magnificence, and so early in the year 2000 the "Save the Saturn Five" project was initiated to provide the funds necessary to build a permanent indoor home for the huge machine.

With a site selected not far from its current resting place, work finally started on the new 22 million dollar building in the Summer of 2006. First to be established was the basic floor, walls and roof for the new building, and in July 2007 a team of contractors, specialists in the moving of heavy and complicated loads, very, very carefully raised and relocated the individual sections of the Saturn 5 onto transporters which would, very, very slowly move the rocket into its new home. The movement of the first two stages of the Saturn 5 would take a full 7 days to complete with the remaining sections slowly putting in an appearance inside the new building in the course of the next few weeks.

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Once the great machine was finally relocated into its new 476 feet long, 90 feet wide and 64 feet tall new home, the next few months would see work on the building continue at a feverish pace with contractors from many different areas, and with many different skills, working seven days a week to complete the mammoth project.

Once floors, walls and ceilings were finally completed, the next items on the agenda could be started, the relocation, from many different sources, of all the additional exhibits which would surround the Saturn 5, because whilst the huge rocket is the centerpiece of the new building, the Apollo Moon landing project it was created to support would also be covered by the many additional exhibits which would be used to bring the entire site into line with not only humankinds first visits to its nearest relative in space, but the voyages that humankind will hopefully be making once again to its nearest neighbour in the next few years.

Whilst work continued on the Main Hall, work was also taking place on the Main Entrance area of the building with its Ticket Office, Rest Rooms and Gift Shop. Work would also continue on creating a 350 seat IMAX Cinema which is also intended to be an integral part of the great building.

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Whilst work continued on the inside of the building, work would also continue on the outside area of the building which plays host to a grand outdoor seating area, with a large scale model of the Ares One booster with its Orion Capsule. An "Honour Wall" surrounds the outdoor seating area and this pays tribute to the astronauts and other space pioneers of the early days of space exploration.

Lastly this area also houses an ever growing collection of a very special type of brick. These bricks, with their specially inscribed names, are dedicated to the groups and individuals who have dug deep into their pockets and made financial contributions to the project. A Project which has enabled this great monument to America’s spacefaring achievements to find a new home, a home in which it can finally be given the loving care and attention it deserves to ensure that generations to come, from all corners of the globe, can marvel at this, the machine which first enabled humankind to travel to, and set foot on, the surface of another world. I am honoured to be able to say that the group I was a part of during my very first year at Space Camp has our names on bricks in this area.

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Now the big question, which I am sure lots of you who are hopefully reading this article are asking is, how come it’s called "The Davidson Center for Space Exploration"? The answer is very, very simple. During a meeting of the committee who were responsible for

co-ordinating the construction of the new building, a request was made for a donor to come forward with an amount which would enable this great building to be named after them. In an act of overwhelming generosity local Alabama residents, and long time advocates of the space programme, Dr Julian Davidson and his wife Dorothy, made a donation of the incredible amount of two million dollars to the project and that quite simply is why it’s called "The Davidson Center for Space Exploration"

By the end of January 2008 work on the project was completed, or as completed as a project of this nature ever can be called completed, for this will be an ongoing project which hopefully can never truly be called finished.

As new exhibits become available, these too will be included in the collection. As new items are located or come to light from the many and varied sources which seem to hide them for so many years, they will be recovered, lovingly restored and find their place in a collection which will be used to celebrate this, humankind’s greatest space-faring achievement so far.

To mark the end of this first stage of the ongoing project a huge gala evening was staged in the new building. The event would see nearly 1400 attendees, from all walks of life, attendees who had, in one way or another, contributed to the project. It would also see in attendance many of the famous faces who had been active in the Apollo Moon landing programme. Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Jim Lovell (Apollo 8 & 13), Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7), Charles Duke (Apollo 16) and Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 &17) all these great space-faring pioneers put in an appearance to help celebrate the great achievement.

At the start of this story I mentioned the dreams and ambitions of Dr Wernher Von Braun to place humankind firstly in outer space, and after this on the surface of another world. But this is also a story of caring and commitment. The caring and commitment of others to ensure that the spacefaring achievements of the past, are not forgotten, and will always have a physical presence in our future. People like Irene Willhite who lives to ensure that the space hardware of yesterday is available for people to see not only today but in all the tomorrow’s to come, and Ed Buckbee, whose stories of very first astronauts, the people who made it all possible, will be told again and again to all who are eagerly waiting to listen. These are two great people who give their lives tirelessly each day to ensure that what has gone before will endure into tomorrow and all the tomorrow’s to come.

For me this is now the end of the story. I am sure that in years to come, as I once again attend Space Camp as a trainee on the 8-Day, Advanced, Adult, Space Academy Programme, I will find other interesting items with which to create stories which I hope you will enjoy reading as much as I enjoy being able to write about them.

Phil Reeder

May 2009