Rocketdyne Archives

Bowl Area Horizontal Test Stand HTS Engine Hot Firing

BOWL

Five test stands were originally constructed in the Bowl area. Vertical Test Stand #1 (VTS-1) is historically significant in that it is a copy of a German World Was II test facility at Pennemunde.

History & Accomplishments

First large rocket engine test site activated at

SSFL activated in 1949

Developed the first use of tube-wall thrust

Chamber design for the Navaho Program in

1953

Supported the first launch of the Redstone in

1953

Programs

Navaho, Redstone, Thor, Jupiter, Atlas, Saturn-V

Test Stand Activity

Prep. Stand -1 Activated 7/49 Test records n/a

VTS-1 Activated 3/50 655 Tests

VTS-2 Activated 9/53 Test records n/a

VTS-3 Activated 5/55 419 Tests

HTS-1 Activated 1/51 1933 Tests

RocketdyneARCHIVES Rocketdyne Boeing SSFL Santa Susana Nuclear Field Lab Laboratory Simi Valley West Hills Canoga Park De Soto North American Aviation Rockwell

VTS II at the Bowl Area of the SSFL XLR71-NA-1 engine test in 1954.

Rocketdyne Boeing SSFL Santa Susana Nuclear Field Lab Laboratory Simi Valley West Hills Canoga Park De Soto Bell Canyon

J2 Firing at the Bowl Area - Date Unknown

Vertical Test Stand #1 (VTS-1).

BOWL AREA VTS 3B

Early Map of the Bowl in AREA I.

Bowl Area 1963

BOWL AREA VTS 3A & 3B

Bowl Area First Full Thrust Pump Fed Engine Hot Firing 1950

BOWL AREA VTS III J2 Hot Fire

BOWL AREA From Above

BOWL AREA POND VTS II HTS VTSI VTSIII

North American Aviation VTS I Test of the Navaho B-64 Engine in 1952.

VTS II in 1954 Pre-Test of the NAA XLR-NA-I.

Bowl Area Test Fire Circa 1950's

The 1950�s Test Firing of Experimental Rocket Motor. A post-war development was the formation of North American Aviation Missiles Division, originally the Missile Development Division, created for the Project NATIV experiments that NAA conducted in the late 1940s using captured German V-2 rockets. These experiments evolved into the X-10 program, the SM-64 Navaho and later the GAM-77 (AGM-28) Hound Dog. In 1960, the Missile Division became the Space Division, which would lead North American to the Moon.

10-24 1950

Bowl in 1993

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