Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 7in. x 3in. x 3in. (17.78 x 7.62 x 7.62cm)
Materials:
Concrete
This is a piece of concrete from the Vertical Test Stand No. 1 (VTS-1) of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory of Rocketdyne in the Santa Susana Mountains, California. The VTS-1 was an important site used by Rocketdyne and its predecessor from the 1950s for the testing of the U.S.'s first large-scale liquid propellant rocket engines, starting with the Redstone missile engine.
This engine evolved into the engines for the Thor, Jupiter, and Atlas missiles, the engines for the Saturn V launch vehicle that took men to the Moon, and the Shuttle Main Engine. The VTS-1 was demolished in 1996 and the sign and other parts retrieved.
This object was donated in 1996 to the Smithsonian by Rocketdyne.
Gift of Rockwell International Corporation, Rocketdyne Division.
