Ars spent the better part of a week at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)in Huntsville, Alabama, gathering material for our pieces on the Saturn V's F-1 resurrection and testing and the new F-1B rocket engine that's being developed right now. In the process, we got to peek into a number of different areas of MSFC not open to the general public, including manufacturing, training, and operations areas. I took over a thousand photographs over the time I was there, and couldn't resist showing them off. Below are the 40 best images from our tour of Marshall, the birthplace of the Saturn V rocket and the place where NASA's latest launch vehicle is being designed.

A late-afternoon moon peeking over the edge of the engine interface panel on one of Marshall Space Flight Center's outdoor F-1 rockets.

Lee Hutchinson

A late-afternoon moon peeking over the edge of the engine interface panel on one of Marshall Space Flight Center's outdoor F-1 rockets.

Lee Hutchinson

Detail of F-1 engine F-6049. The gas generator from this engine was pulled, reconditioned, and test-fired more than 20 times by the team at MSFC and Dynetics.

Lee Hutchinson

More detail on F-6049. The missing gas generator fits on the upper portion of the rocket. Its cloth-covered attachment points are visible.

Lee Hutchinson

Close detail of the upper nozzle of one of the F-1 engines in storage at MSFC. This portion of the nozzle is constructed of steel tubes brazed together and bound with hoops like a barrel. RP-1 fuel was circulated through the tubes to cool the nozzle.

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Gallery: Behind the scenes at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center