Parts from Old Apollo Rockets

While engineers are trying to get the Ares 1 designed they are going to Apollo exhibits to see how the Apollo program did it. They are even getting old NASA engineers to help the new guys and gals with the Ares project.

Snoddy, a manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, has been removing valves and other parts from Apollo exhibits as he oversees construction of the upper-stage engine on the new moon rocket, dubbed Ares 1. Some of the pieces and accompanying documentation are not available anywhere but museums, he said.

The move makes sense: The new engine Snoddy is working on, a J-2X, is an updated version of the J-2 engine that powered the third stage of the 363-foot (109-meter) Saturn V rocket during Apollo.