Old Falcon 9 rockets done firing their engines will now inflame imaginations

• The twice-flown booster last used during the CRS-13 mission will go on display at Space Center Houston this summer. [credit: SpaceX ]

Ten days before Christmas 2017, a Falcon 9 rocket blasted a Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The first stage then performed a series of engine burns and landed safely along the Florida coastline. The core has remained in storage since then.

Absent a costly, time-consuming renovation, this "full-thrust" Falcon 9 rocket will never fly into space again. SpaceX prefers to re-fly its newer "Block 5" version of the Falcon 9, which incorporated reuse lessons learned from earlier flights like the ones this rocket core had made. This rocket's job, therefore, was seemingly done.

But William Harris, the president and chief executive of Space Center Houston, thought he knew of a way rockets like this one could still serve the aerospace enterprise, albeit in a different way. Although such a Falcon 9 rocket would no longer fire its engines, it could still inflame the enthusiasm of young people.