This week marks the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11’s mission to the moon. I can still remember as a young child watching our family’s T.V. as this inspiring piece of space history unfolded.

And last March, I had the very cool experience of actually seeing up close some of the recovered F-1 engines that launched this legendary spaceship. Click here to see Space.com’s infographic of these components.

During the Explorers Club’s 110th Annual Dinner at NYC’s Waldorf Astoria, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and his Apollo F-1 search and Recovery Team of over 100 individuals, were presented with a Citation of Merit by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin for making this find.  Using state of the art deep sea technology, this team searched in 2011 and in 2013 over 180 square miles of ocean bottom at a depth of 14,000 feet.

The gnarled remains of these once powerful components rested in dramatic contrast to the elegant opulence of the Waldorf’s reception area.

Click here to read an interesting piece written by Newsweek’s Lainna Fader about the anniversary. The article includes great extras including the original 353-page flight plan of this mission, as well as a key to some of the technical language in the document.