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All the United States Pennsylvania Franklin Dairy Queen Apollo Capsule
Dairy Queen Apollo Capsule is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Gastro Obscura

Dairy Queen Apollo Capsule

Priceless space junk on display in front of a local Dairy Queen.

Franklin, Pennsylvania

Added By
Thomas Harper
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The Apollo boilerplate.   Dairy Queen - Franklin
The Apollo boilerplate.   Dairy Queen - Franklin
Apollo capsule boilerplate.   thomasharper / Atlas Obscura User
  dcal31 / Atlas Obscura User
Refurbished at Young’s Sandblasting in Blairsville, PA in Feb. 2020.   dcal31 / Atlas Obscura User
  chicagovideo / Atlas Obscura User
The boilerplate from across the street.   Map data ©2017 Google
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About

Throughout the rural United States, outposts of the Dairy Queen franchise are a common sight. However, the Dairy Queen in Franklin, Pennsylvania, has a very uncommon sight at its location: one of only four surviving Apollo command module boilerplates.

A boilerplate is a mockup of a space capsule design used in simulations. After testing, many boilerplates were sold off for scrap. It was in a Grove City scrapyard that Kim Rogers, owner of the Dairy Queen in Franklin along Pennsylvania Route 8 and space travel enthusiast, found two boilerplates from the Apollo command module in the early 80s. He bought one and transported the 3-ton piece of spaceflight history up to his franchise location, and mounted it in front of the building.

Years later a former Navy man recognized the boilerplate as the same one he had used for underwater demolition training in preparation for the Apollo missions. It was the same model they rescued from the Apollo 16 mission.

Inside the building are monitors with video telling the story of the boilerplate and how it came to rest at his family's Dairy Queen for over 30 years. That and, of course, ice cream.

Update April 2019: It has since gone out of business, and the capsule is gone.

Update February 2020: Last seen refurbished at Young's Sandblasting in Blairsville, PA.

Related Tags

Space Nasa Ice Cream Space Exploration Restaurants Lost Wonders

Community Contributors

Added By

thomasharper

Edited By

Molly McBride Jacobson, HarleyWarren, erjeffery, chicagovideo...

  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • HarleyWarren
  • erjeffery
  • chicagovideo
  • dcal31

Published

January 17, 2017

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Sources
  • http://www.titusvilleherald.com/news/article_7c60d636-058d-502a-bf4f-0523fe1c5f99.html
  • http://www.americanspacecraft.com/pages/apollo/bp-penndq.html
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boilerplate_(spaceflight)
Dairy Queen Apollo Capsule
1578 Pittsburgh Road
Franklin, Pennsylvania
United States
41.364008, -79.865871
Visit Website
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Nearby Places

Rockland (Woodhill) Tunnel

Kennerdell, Pennsylvania

miles away

Foxburg Country Club

Foxburg, Pennsylvania

miles away

Office of Personnel Management Retirement Operations Center

Boyers, Pennsylvania

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

United States

Places 432
Stories 28

Nearby Places

Rockland (Woodhill) Tunnel

Kennerdell, Pennsylvania

miles away

Foxburg Country Club

Foxburg, Pennsylvania

miles away

Office of Personnel Management Retirement Operations Center

Boyers, Pennsylvania

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

United States

Places 432
Stories 28

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