Preliminary work is underway in dismantling the Saturn 1B rocket at the north Alabama welcome center on Interstate 65 near the Tennessee state line.

NASA has been removing the engines from the rocket this week, according to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. And the rocket center has solicited bids to take down the 168-foot rocket that was part of the Apollo moon program.

Related: Rocket at Alabama welcome center appears doomed after vote

The dismantling of the rocket is expected to be completed by the end of October, the rocket center said.

The taking down of the rocket got final clearance in recent weeks when the office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state’s monument preservation law would not be an obstacle, according to Wes Kelley, chair of the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission. The commission oversees the rocket center, which has been tasked by NASA to take down the rocket.

“So we did hear back from the attorney general a few weeks ago and he did not make a determination per se,” Kelley said. “What he said is that he doesn’t need to make a determination, because the state legislature passed a law that provided funds for either the repair or the replacement of the rocket.”

The legislature in 2022 allocated almost $1 million to the rocket center to help fund “rocket removal.” Another bill passed by the legislature earlier this year said that if the rocket is taken down, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs will oversee the process of installing a replacement rocket.

Kelley also said the rocket center had asked for bids to “disassemble the unit and put it on the ground.”

The Saturn 1B rocket has been in place at the welcome center since 1979. It is one of only two remaining in the world, according to the rocket center. A rocket center report from 2022 described the Saturn 1B as an “overlooked workhorse of the Apollo program.” Among its tasks was as the launch vehicle for the Skylab mission that is celebrating its golden anniversary this year.

NASA and the rocket center have said the rocket – after being exposed to outdoor environmental elements for more than four decades – is beyond repair and any efforts to refurbish it would exceed $7 million.