Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
3-D Test: 27.9 x 12.7 x 33cm, 9.1kg (11 x 5 x 13 in., 20lb.)
Materials:
Steel
This a section of an I-beam from the Vertical Test Stand No. 1 (VTS-1) of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory of Rocketdyne in the Santa Susana Mountains, California. 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.
The Redstone 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 were retrieved. This object was donated in 1996 to the Smithsonian by Rocketdyne.
Gift of Rockwell International Corporation, Rocketdyne Division.
