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Reaction Motors Inc. (RMI) was formed in 1941 by four members of the American Rocket Society, James Hart Wyld, John Shesta, Lovell Lawrence, Jr., and Hugh Franklin Pierce. The company developed the rocket engines used by the the early NASA (NACA)/Air Force X planes including the Bell X-1 that first broke the sound barrier in 1947 and the North American X-15. Reaction Motors was taken over by Thiokol Chemical in 1958 and became the Reaction Motor Division. Later the division became Thiokol Propulsion which was acquired by ATK (Alliant Techsystems) in 2001. Robert Holder was an employee at RMI.

Identifier

NASM.2012.0012

Date

bulk 1946-1947

Provenance

Arline Holder, Gift, 2012

Extent

0.05 Cubic feet ((1 folder))

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of the following imagery: eight 2.75 by 4.25 inch black and white photographs, and fifteen 4 by 6 inch black and white copy prints (including copies of the smaller images), with corresponding 35 mm copy negatives. The images include shots of Reaction Motors engine testing at Lake Denmark, New Jersey, and feature the following individuals: Max Guzeko, Andrew Donobro, Ed Garbarion, and Jim Reardon.

Rights

Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Citation

Reaction Motors Photographs [Holder], Accession 2012-0012, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Rocket engines

Astronautics

Propulsion systems

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs