By KENNETH KESNER
Times Staff Writer
kenneth.kesner@htimes.com
Rocket City icon should again be nighttime beacon
The rocket is being lit again.
During ceremonies at 5 p.m. today, the spotlights will shine on the full-size replica of the Saturn V moon rocket that stands, as if ready for launch, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
The public is invited to the free event, which will include brief remarks from Space Center CEO Larry Capps and others, and is part of the citywide celebration this week of the 50th Anniversary of America in Space.
The lights had to be turned off for 18 months during construction of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, prompting calls from curious Huntsvillians and even a few complaints, Capps said.
The more than 360-foot-tall model was built in 1999 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first moon landing. The project added controversial strain to the Space Center's then-ailing budget, but in the years since it has become an icon of the Rocket City.
Standing tall next to the Space Center on Interstate 565, the bright white Saturn V replica also has become a sort of nighttime beacon for many; Capps said inbound airline pilots sometimes point it out to passengers as they landed.
Occasionally, the rocket glowed red for the Heart Society, and pink, purple or other colors, to commemorate special events in Huntsville.
It will now also be the giant centerpiece of the outdoor "Apollo Courtyard," which will include information about each Apollo Mission, footprints of Apollo and other astronauts, and the names of donors who helped restore and house the Space Center's real Saturn V rocket.
The replica towers between the Space Center museum and the new Davidson Center, which now displays the real Saturn V's stages, separated, suspended horizontally and framed by windows facing the highway.
"We're excited about it," Capps said. "I think it will be just a magnificent look, not only from I-565 but from the air."
With the lights again shining on the model rocket, visitors and passers-by will be struck by the two views of the historic Saturn V, which was designed and developed in Huntsville to lift men to the moon.
"This is not just symbolic of who we were," said Don Nalley, vice chairman of economic development for the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. "To me, this is representative of who we were, who we are, and who we will be."