Down but not out, the Astroland rocket will someday return to Coney Island. (Barry Yanowitz/Flickr)

Astroland may be gone, and much of Coney Island with it, but it least its most iconic symbol will be saved. (No, not the Tilt-a-Whirl.) As per a press release we just received, Carol Hill Albert, a co-owner of Astroland, has donated the amusement park’s namesake rocket, which once rested atop Gregory & Paul’s hot dog stand (an AN favorite).

“This one of a kind Rocket simulator was the very first ride to arrive at Astroland Park, when it was founded by my late father in-law Dewey Albert in 1962,” Hill Alpert said in the release. “My husband Jerome and myself are donating this in his honor and on behalf the Coney Island History Project.  It is especially fitting that this Rocket, which was the first to arrive, will be the last item to leave Astroland Park. On the sad occasion of closing Astroland, which has been Coney Island’s largest amusement park for 47 years, my husband Jerome and I are heartened to know that the City will be displaying the Rocket in a prominent location as part of the new Coney Island where it can continue to educate and entertain.”

The release also said the city has agreed to afix a bronze plaque to the rocket to honor Astroland. And here’s a video of its removal a few weeks ago: