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[i]"The fact that it's been up there (so many) years is pretty amazing," said Lee Sentell, director of the Alabama Tourism Department. The rocket has been in place about 44 years. The Welcome Center opened in 1977. In 1979, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center donated the Saturn 1B rocket, 168 feet high and 22 feet in diameter, to stand as a symbol of Huntsville's role in the space program. The rocket was painted in 2006 and more maintenance was done in starting in 2014, but it has steadily deteriorated since then. "It was starting to fall apart," Sentell said. "We've gotten complaints for years about it." ... Restoring the rocket may be too expensive and impractical, Sentell said. "Just to take it down, clean it up and put it back up, that's a million dollars," he said. It also might not be the best idea, he said. "It's time for it to go," Sentell said. "That was never intended to be anywhere that long." He's hoping Huntsville can offer up a new icon for the future, illustrating NASA's plan to return to the moon and eventually go to Mars.[/i]
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