The Saturn 1B rocket still stands at the Alabama welcome center on Interstate 65 in Limestone County just south of the Tennessee state line, about two months since NASA formally declared its demise.

As it quietly stands, the whirlwind of activity over its future is what’s going on around it.

Related: NASA updates plans for rocket at Alabama rest stop

Related: Iconic rocket at Alabama rest stop to be taken down, NASA says

There is a movement to raise perhaps as much as $10 million to save it. There are talks about replacing it with a replica rocket. And the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, charged by NASA with bringing it down, is making moves just to see if it can be moved – asking the Alabama attorney general’s office if removing the rocket will violate the state’s 2017 monument-protection law.

The rocket has towered over travelers for more than 40 years at the welcome center and is a source of pride as a sort of gateway to the Rocket City of Huntsville. But those 40 summers and 40 winters have been cruel to the rocket and NASA has said it is beyond repair and a danger at the welcome center now closed for renovation.

Steven Thornton doesn’t necessarily accept that diagnosis. The CEO of Monte Sano Research, a defense contractor in Huntsville, said he envisions a future to restore the rocket that NASA says would cost about $7 million if the rocket could withstand such a restoration. The only obstacles, Thornton said, are money and technology. And he’s confident enough of both can be found in Huntsville.

“The win-win is, (the rocket) is a benefit, not a burden,” Thornton said. “All you hear in the objections are burden, burden, burden, burden. And we’re trying to say, benefit, benefit, benefit, benefit. And oh, by the way, just let go of it and we’ll find the technology and we’ll find the money to achieve that benefit.”

Ownership of rocket

It’s that letting-go-of-it part that’s the trick. The rocket belongs to NASA and the space agency has made plans to disassemble it once it is grounded. Ownership would have to change hands for a different path to be followed.

“Do we have a path of ownership for the rocket?” asked state Rep. Andy Whitt, R-Harvest. The rocket stands in his House district. “It’s NASA-owned and they determine what to do with their artifact. In the repairs numbers that I’m hearing is $7 million, $8 million. If we were able to secure those funds, I’m not certain that I can find anyone that wants ownership of the rocket. And if so, are they willing to stand up and say, ‘Yeah, I’ll take responsibility, responsibility for the maintenance, the insurance, etc.’”

Whitt said the ownership issue may eventually have to rise as high as the U.S. State Department and there are no guarantees a change in ownership is within reach.

Meanwhile, the rocket center in Huntsville is trying to make sure it doesn’t break the law in taking down the rocket. The legislature in 2017 passed the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act in response to the removal of Confederate monuments across the country. The law prohibits the relocation, removal, alteration, renaming, or other disturbance of any monument located on public property which has been in place for 40 years or more.

The rocket is on public property at the welcome center, which is owned by the state. And the rocket has been in place for more than 40 years. Given those scenarios, the rocket center confirmed has sought an opinion from the office of Attorney General Steve Marshall on the legality of removing the rocket.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, told AL.com in January he believed the rocket may be included under the law. Illegal removal of a monument, under the law, is a $25,000 fine. It’s not clear what entity might be responsible for paying the fine.

Thornton’s plan would make the legality issue a moot point. In a memo provided to AL.com, he said a more thorough assessment needs to be done of the rocket before determining it has no future. NASA has not shared details about its assessment of the rocket but described it as “beyond repair and restoration.”

In the memo, Thornton said, “Alleged uncertainty of future viability is just that, uncertain. Which means there is not necessarily an impossibility to preserve, only a lack of will to preserve. There are no proposals or formal estimates to repair or stabilize the rocket. The numbers that are bantering about are conjectures and rough estimates – NOT written. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to get a few real estimates? We are about to destroy a national treasure without knowing the real numbers. This simply cannot be…”

So, the fundraising goal, Thornton said, is $10 million. He also described himself as someone with “visions of grandeur” with ideas beyond simply preserving the rocket at the welcome center. Thornton even mentioned a Davidson Center-type building at the welcome center for the rocket – invoking the name of the facility at the rocket center that houses an authentic Saturn V moon rocket.

And what if, Thornton suggested, Jeff Bezos got involved? The founder of Amazon and ranked one of the richest men in the world, Bezos has a connection to Huntsville with his Blue Origin rocket company having a sprawling facility not far from the rocket center and, Thornton said, a history with valuing past space artifacts. Ten years ago, a Bezos expedition recovered Apollo 11 rocket engines from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean now on display at the Cosmosphere International SciEd Center & Space Museum in Hutchinson, Kansas.

First things first, though, and that’s saving the rocket as it is.

“So now some of my dreams of a big building and putting it up like the Davidson Center may have to be a next year, next decade kind of consideration,” Thornton said. “Right now, we’ve got to keep that rocket up and work on it where it is. So, to answer your money question, in those terms, this is probably a $10 million deal.”

Replica rocket the answer?

Whitt said he drives by the rocket on I-65 all the time and never fails to marvel at its majesty standing 168 feet tall – an eye-catching monument to Huntsville’s space heritage on an otherwise rural highway. He’s not eager for its demise. But there may be a more logical alternative, he said.

“I think everyone knows it’s an iconic piece of Alabama’s history — in particular, North Alabama,” Whitt said. “I’ve said time and time again, this is our state’s welcome mat. Alabama’s history over the years has had some dark and unflattering days from its past. It’s imperative that we show our visitors how far we’ve come and progressed in our state. And this is just about as much of promoting an image of our state as it is for saving of that rocket.

“Unfortunately, at this point, I believe that a replica rocket is the only feasible path forward that we’ve got. I understand that’s not most popular idea or solution there.”

But before dismissing the idea of a replica rocket, Whitt said to consider the Saturn V rocket that stands outside the rocket center along I-565 in Huntsville. That unique 363-feet-tall icon of Huntsville’s skyline is, of course, a replica. In 2019, it underwent a $1.2 million refurbishment largely funded by private donations.

“You know how many people line up to see the replica rockets and take pictures with?” Whitt said. “It’s the same thing over there on Interstate 65. A new welcome center, a new rocket up there. Nice lighting.”

A replica – whether it’s for the Saturn 1B that stands at the welcome center now or perhaps the new SLS rocket that, NASA says, will eventually return astronauts to the moon and beyond to Mars – is a more “realistic” solution, Whitt said. Such a solution might cost $3-4 million – Whitt mentioned a public-private partnership to raise the money — and have minimal maintenance expenses. And perhaps implementing pieces of the original rocket for display at the welcome center once it’s taken down, Whitt said.

“That makes sense, rather than every five or seven or 10 years, doing a $1 million paint (on the original rocket),” Whitt said.