Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
The F-1 Engine
Marshall's Legacy of Flight
Photographed by Sandra Hughes Tidwell, December 14, 2023
1. The F-1 Engine Marker
The largest liquid-powered rocket engine ever used to launch Americans to space, the F-1 was the key to successfully "slipping the surly bonds" of Earth's gravity and sending Apollo astronauts on their first historic missions to the moon. With 1.5 million pounds of thrust and arranged in clusters of five to power the Saturn V rocket's first stage, the F-1 was a staggering ten times more powerful than other, conventional engines of the 1950s and 1960s.
F-1 Quick Facts
Propellants: Liquid Oxygen/RP-1 (2.27 mix)
Thrust (at sea level): 1,500,000 lbs.
Height: 18.5 feet
Diameter: 12.2 feet
Dry Weight: 18,416 lbs.
First Flight:1967
Last Flight: 1973
No. of Flights: 65
photo caption:
Background: F-1 engine test firing at Marshall's Static Test Stand
Erected by National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Air & Space. A significant historical year for this entry is 1967.
Location. 34° 39.146′ N, 86° 40.3′ W. Marker is in Huntsville, Alabama, in Madison County. It is at the intersection of Mercury Road and Rideout Road on Mercury Road. The
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Regionally, this marker is in North Alabama. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, in Appalachia, and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the original Cherokee Nation, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: The J-2 Engine (here, next to this marker); The Boeing-Vertol A/ACH47A Helicopter Gunship (approx. 1.9 miles away); Formation of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (approx. 3.2 miles away); Arnett Cemetery (approx. 3.3 miles away); NASA Skylab (approx. 4.1 miles away); CH-47D Chinook Helicopter (approx. 4.1 miles away); U.S. Air Force SM-65 Atlas-F
Photographed by Sandra Hughes Tidwell, December 14, 2023
2. Left: The J-2 Engine. Right: The F-1 Engine
Photographed by Sandra Hughes Tidwell, December 14, 2023
3. Rocket Park
Credits. This page was last revised on December 29, 2024. It was originally submitted on December 20, 2023, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. This page has been viewed 192 times since then and 15 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on December 20, 2023, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.
