Rocket Engine, Liquid Fuel, J-2

This is a J-2 liquid propellant rocket engine that uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. It was the powerplant for the second and third stages of the Project Apollo Saturn V launch vehicle which took astronauts to the Moon. The J-2 had a thrust of about 200,000 pounds but was later upgraded to 250,000 pounds. The J-2 shown here is an early development model and was used in three test firings for a total firing duration of 291 seconds. The Saturn V's second stage used five J-2's for a combined thrust of 1,150,000 pounds while the third stage had a single J-2. This engine was transferred by to the Smithsonian in 1986 from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.