BP-1101 “Boilerplate” Capsule | Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum

Many of us remember the excitement of the Apollo missions that landed a dozen Americans on the Moon more than 50 years ago. The Apollo Command Module was the only part of the massive, skyscraper-sized Saturn V rocket that returned to Earth at the end of each flight. You can recognize an enlarged version of the Command Module’s cone shape in today’s Lockheed Martin Orion spacecraft and the Boeing Starliner.

This artifact looks very much like an actual Apollo Command Module, but it never carried astronauts into space. It is a boilerplate—a simplified metal model created to test specific aspects of the real spacecraft, such as water landings, launch abort escape rockets, or recovery systems. It duplicates the size, weight, shape, and center of gravity of the actual vehicle.

This particular boilerplate is BP-1101A. NASA used it for flotation tests in the Gulf of Mexico in July, 1965. After some modifications, NASA used it again for additional ocean testing in 1966 and 1967. In most photos of Apollo spacecraft floating in the ocean you can see large round balloons near the top. They pull the spacecraft right-side-up if it capsizes, and they were tested on this very boilerplate.

On loan from the National Air and Space Museum.

Capsule specifications:
Diameter: 12 ft 10 in (3.9 m)
Height: 8 ft 10 in (2.7 m)
Weight: Varied, approximately 10,000 lbs (4,536 kg)

Lowry - Denver

Air & Space Museum

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Monday Feb 16

10:00AM TO 2:30PM

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Artemis II Family Day

Monday, Feb 16, 2026 | 10:00AM to 2:30PM

We are going back to the moon and beyond! All are invited to explore human space flight during our Artemis II Family Day at Wings Over the Rockies^® Air & Space Museum. At this event, discover NASA’s plan to send astronauts beyond the Moon and how Colorado’s aerospace community is helping make it happen.

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Concurrent Q&A on Hangar Floor (11:30 am – 12:30 pm):
- Zone 1: The Mighty SLS Rocket
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- Zone 3: The Engineering Behind Artemis
- Zone 4: Everything’s Harder in Space
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