Museum Reconstructs Saturn V

The countdown clock is running.

A north Alabama space museum has started construction of a full-sized replica of the Saturn V moon rocket to mark next month's 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

It took nearly a decade of planning and work for Neil Armstrong to take that "one small step" in 1969. Workers building the 36-story model have only a month.

"The drop-dead date is July 15," said Mike Wing, chief executive of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. "We have to have it for our celebration starting July 18."

Once complete, promoters say the 363-foot-tall rocket and its 410-foot-tall gantry will be the largest manmade structure in Alabama. The entire project will cost $22 million.

The hollow rocket won't include any of the fuel tanks, wiring or engines that went into a real Saturn V. Instead, dozens of steel panels painted to resemble a rocket will be bolted to a towering steel frame.

The Saturn V will begin taking shape this week. Gazing skyward at a giant crane that will lift big sections into place, construction executive Robert Ellis chuckled at the enormity of it all.

"Never did I ever dream that we'd be working on something like this," said Ellis, whose R&E Construction of Decatur poured the concrete foundation and four gigantic pillars that will support the model.

The rocket, which will include five realistic-looking engines, will be held to Earth by 84 anchor bolts weighing 200 pounds each.

"It's a massive, massive building," Ellis said.

Turner Universal Construction is overseeing the project, part of an $80 million expansion at the state-owned museum. Vice president James Makemson said the trick to building something so big so quickly is coming up with a plan.

Large sections of the rocket will be assembled at staging areas on the ground by more than 100 people working seven days a week. The pieces will then be lifted into place by the crane.

"The most difficult thing was replicating all the tubing around the rocket engines," Makemson said. "It may not be exact, but the average layperson won't know the difference."

Once the rocket is done, work will begin beside it on the even taller launch gantry, which will include space for meeting rooms, a restaurant and an observation deck.

Museum spokesman Edd Davis said the Saturn V will be the centerpiece of anniversary events including an appearance by former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who accompanied Armstrong to the lunar surface on Apollo 11.