The Texas Collection, Baylor University
Megaboom Rocket Sled-Holloman Air Force Base
At Holloman Air Force Base, this Megaboom Rocket Motor is being sled test run with 100,000 pounds of thrust for 10 seconds. Its 3,000 pounds of weight was propelled to 1,200 mph. Solid propellant rocket motors such as this one were originally developed and tested on firing bays at the Rocketdyne Propulsion Field Labratory in McGregor, Texas, in the 1960s. The "thrust blocks" used to hold the motors in place were made to withstand 50,000 pounds of thrust. For larger units, this McGregor facility had test cells that could withstand thrusts up to 1 million pounds. This was part of the large facility that included an ammonium nitrate propellant production line. The property covered land in both the McLennan and Coryell County lines due to its unique geographical location in central Texas.
Rocketdyne was part of North American Aviation, Inc., Solid Rocket Division, McGregor, Texas. By the late 1960's, the company had produced 250,000 rockets and this included some used by NASA for the 1969 Apollo Mission to the moon. Some of the land and facilities would later become Hercules and now it is home to SpaceX.
Lloyd Gholson Rocketdyne collection-Photographs: Rocketdyne OVZ Box 1, The Texas Collection, Baylor University; Digital ID: tx-phoarch-rocketdyne_2935-prints-0280.tif. Rights: Some rights reserved. E-mail txcoll@baylor.edu for information about the use of our images. Visit www.baylor.edu/lib/texas/ for more information about our collections.
Megaboom Rocket Sled-Holloman Air Force Base
At Holloman Air Force Base, this Megaboom Rocket Motor is being sled test run with 100,000 pounds of thrust for 10 seconds. Its 3,000 pounds of weight was propelled to 1,200 mph. Solid propellant rocket motors such as this one were originally developed and tested on firing bays at the Rocketdyne Propulsion Field Labratory in McGregor, Texas, in the 1960s. The "thrust blocks" used to hold the motors in place were made to withstand 50,000 pounds of thrust. For larger units, this McGregor facility had test cells that could withstand thrusts up to 1 million pounds. This was part of the large facility that included an ammonium nitrate propellant production line. The property covered land in both the McLennan and Coryell County lines due to its unique geographical location in central Texas.
Rocketdyne was part of North American Aviation, Inc., Solid Rocket Division, McGregor, Texas. By the late 1960's, the company had produced 250,000 rockets and this included some used by NASA for the 1969 Apollo Mission to the moon. Some of the land and facilities would later become Hercules and now it is home to SpaceX.
Lloyd Gholson Rocketdyne collection-Photographs: Rocketdyne OVZ Box 1, The Texas Collection, Baylor University; Digital ID: tx-phoarch-rocketdyne_2935-prints-0280.tif. Rights: Some rights reserved. E-mail txcoll@baylor.edu for information about the use of our images. Visit www.baylor.edu/lib/texas/ for more information about our collections.