Linux foundation are collecting quite a lot "failed" projects and turn them to gold these days? I sometimes feel it is acting like a software goodwill store partially. Whatever that is, hope RethinkDB will do well in the future.
IMO the ASF is better at collecting abandoned failed software while LF has more openwashed corporate code dumps. CNCF is actually legit though because they generally accept technically sound software that is already successful.
RethinkDB is quite a bit more than an openwashed code dump though. It seems like a natural fit to some of the rest of the CNCF work, and probably why they had an interest... though not a direct fit, hense being under LF proper instead of CNCF.
I think it's an appropriate home though. ASF always seems like a minefield when I look into some of their projects.
I think the NodeJS Foundation (https://nodejs.org/en/) and project are really successful and putting them under the auspices of the LF helped resolve a lot of community issues (including the io.js fork): https://nodesource.com/node-by-numbers
I'm not familiar enough with Express to comment on it.