Object Details
- Manufacturer
- Pratt & Whitney
- Summary
- This is the RL10, the world's first operational liquid-hydrogen/liquid oxygen high energy rocket engine and was re-startable in space. It was developed and built by the Pratt & Whitney Aircxraft Company. Two RL10s, each of 15,000 pounds of thrust, made up the Centaur upper stage of Atlas and Titan launch vehicles. A cluster of six RL10s also powered the second stage of the Saturn 1, a precursor to the Saturn V manned Project Apollo lunar launch vehicle.
- The Atlas-Centaur first successfully flew in 1966 and was the first full-thrust re-start in space. Atlas-Centaur missions included Surveyor lunar probes, Mariners (Mars, Venus, and Mercury probes), and Pioneers 10-11 to Jupiter and Saturn. This engine was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1974 from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
- Credit Line
- Transferred from NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center
- Inventory Number
- A19740902000
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- PROPULSION-Rocket Engines
- 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
- Other: 31 in. diameter x 68 in. long, 300 lb. (78.74 x 172.72cm, 136.1kg)
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Air and Space Museum Collection
- National Air and Space Museum
- Record ID
- nasm_A19740902000
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv967d1249c-9e8b-40fb-abae-453777cb7e02
