Object Details
- Summary
- This is a cutaway of the RL-10 rocket engine, the world's first operational liquid-hydrogen/liquid oxygen high energy rocket engine that was re-startable in space. Two RL-10 engines, each producing 15,000 pounds of thrust, made up the Centaur upper stage used with the Atlas and Titan launch vehicles.
- A cluster of six RL-10 engines also powered the second stage of the Saturn 1 vehicle, a precursor to the Saturn V that sent the first astronauts to the Moon under Project Apollo. The first successful operational flight of the Atlas-Centaur took place in 1966 and this was also the first time the RL-10 made a full-thrust re-start in space. The engine was donated to the Smithsonian in 1976 by the NASA Lewis Research Center.
- Data Source
- National Air and Space Museum
- Manufacturer
- Pratt & Whitney
- Credit Line
- Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Materials
- Chamber, 347 stainless steel brazed with silver; piping, polished stainless steel; aluminum casting pump; heat exchanger of nickel alloy
- Pump, aluminum casting
- Nozzle ring, upper, plastic
- Dimensions
- Overall: 5ft 9in. x 2ft 9in. x 2ft 7in. (175.26 x 83.82 x 78.74cm)
- Storage (Artex Crate): 121 × 214 × 121cm, 367.4kg (47 5/8 × 84 1/4 × 47 5/8 in., 810lb.)
- Type
- PROPULSION-Rocket Engines
