2018 · Reusable Rocket Engine · Work 1277 of 1,871
A bright refurbishment hangar in California on an October night, cold white light on a pale grey floor, on a black steel stand a single rocket engine standing upright, at its top a blue painted mounting plate, beneath it a dense tangle of silver pipes, orange and yellow hoses and small red and white valves, at one side a gold-bronze exhaust duct, below a grey combustion chamber and a large bell-shaped nozzle in matt anthracite grey ringed by a cooling tube, dark soot streaks down the inner wall of the nozzle, every surface plain and unmarked, a technician's hands in grey work gloves shining a flashlight onto the nozzle rim.