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Rocket Systems Area Timelines

Train car inside F Site — Interior of F Site in the 1960s.

Events Timeline

1941

War Department seizes property to build the PBOW.¹
The NACA begins construction of the AERL [future NASA Lewis].

1943

The NACA’s AERL officially begins operations in Cleveland.

1945

World War II ends.
PBOW closes after producing record amounts of ammunition for the war.
Major NACA reorganization is done to focus on turbojets and high-speed flight.
NACA begins modest nuclear propulsion research.
Military sponsors initial hydrogen engine studies at OSU³ and JPL.⁴

1946

Matthew-Lavio and Sons manages idle Plum Brook property.
Air Force approves development of surface-to-surface intercontinental missile.
Research begins on nuclear propulsion for aircraft.

1947

Rocket Lab begins operation at the NACA lab in Cleveland, Ohio.
First supersonic flight by Chuck Yeager in X–1.
Cleveland Lab renamed the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory.

1948

Lewis hosts conference that discusses high-energy fuels.
Lewis researchers begin calculating fluorine’s performance.

1949

Plum Brook property transferred to General Services Administration
Lewis research divisions reorganized under Abe Silverstein

1951

NACA establishes a Special Subcommittee on Rocket Engines.

1952

New Cryogenics Engineering Lab begins producing liquid hydrogen.
United States tests first hydrogen bomb.

1954

Ravenna Arsenal begins management of Plum Brook.
Lewis improves Cell 22 at the Rocket Lab.
First liquid-hydrogen/liquid-oxygen engine firing occurs at Rocket Lab.
Lewis tests gaseous hydrogen in turbojet combustor.

1955

Congress approves funding for NACA test reactor at Plum Brook.
Air Force and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) begin Project Rover.
Rocketdyne and Aerojet begin design of hydrogen turbopumps.
Lewis tests 10,000-lb-thrust fluorine engines.

1956

Groundbreaking ceremony for Plum Brook Reactor in September.
Lewis performs initial decontamination at Plum Brook.

1957

Project Bee aircraft performs liquid-hydrogen-powered flights.
Lewis creates Fluid Systems Components and Nuclear Reactor Divisions.
Congress approves funding for Rocket Systems Area.
General Dynamics begins design of the Centaur second-stage rocket.
Lewis hosts NACA Inspection and Flight Propulsion Conference.
Soviet Union launches Sputnik and Sputnik II.
Navy’s launch of Vanguard fails.
Regeneratively cooled hydrogen-fluorine engine run at Rocket Lab.

1958

Lewis leases additional land at Plum Brook for Rocket Systems Area.
Construction of Rocket Systems Area (RSA) begins.
Silverstein transferred to Headquarters.
Lewis inventories PBOW structures and equipment.
AEC approves Rocketdyne axial-flow turbopump.
NASA is officially founded on October 1.
Pratt & Whitney begins developing RL–10 engine.
Pilot Plant (G Site) begins operation at Plum Brook.

1959

AEC conducts first low-power test of Kiwi-A reactor.
Silverstein-led committee recommends high-energy fuels for upper-stage rockets.
NASA requests additional 3500 acres at Plum Brook from the Army for additional sites.
NASA replaces Air Force in the Rover program.

1960

High Energy Engine Research Facility (B–1) construction underway.
AEC conducts first full-scale Kiwi-A reactor test.
Space Nuclear Propulsion Office (SNPO) created on August 31.

1961

Yuri Gagarin becomes first human in space.
President Kennedy calls for manned lunar landing.
AEC and NASA accept Aerojet-Westinghouse NERVA⁵ proposal.
Pratt & Whitney struggles with RL–10 engine problems.
Rocket Systems Area becomes operational in the fall.
Rocket Systems Division established at Plum Brook.
Silverstein named director of Lewis Research Center.

1962

E Stand, I Site, and J Site become operational.
Alan “Hap” Johnson named Plum Brook Director.
Congress approves $40 million for B-3⁶, SPF⁷, and B-2⁸ expansion.
NASA substitutes Centaur for Agena rocket for Surveyor Program.
First attempt to launch an Atlas-Centaur rocket fails on May 8.
NASA transfers Centaur Program from Marshall to Lewis.
Lockheed Martin designs Titan III booster.
AEC test of Kiwi-B4-A reactor at Nevada Test Site fails.

1963

All PBOW property officially transferred to NASA.
Site renamed Plum Brook Station [renamed, Neil Armstrong Test Facility in 2021].
NASA razes many PBOW structures.
200,000-gal hydrogen Dewar built at Plum Brook.
Researchers conduct tests at the B–1 facility; checkout tests run throughout the fall.
B–3 facility construction begins.
Second Atlas-Centaur launch attempt successful.
E Stand⁹ modified to accommodate Atlas-Centaur.

1964

Engineering Building, B–2, and B–3 under construction.
AEC tests Kiwi-B4 reactor design at Nevada Test Site.
B–1 begins testing Kiwi reactor flow system.
AEC successfully runs NERVA NRX–A2 engine at Nevada Test Site.

1965

NASA budget peaks.
Attempts to get Rocket Turbine and Controls Site (D Site) working cease.
The Cryogenic Propellant Tank Facility (K Site) begins operation.

1966

B–3 begins operation.
Atlas-Centaur sends first Surveyor spacecraft to lunar surface.
Engineering Building opens at Plum Brook.
Lewis staff levels reach peak.
Lewis converts Hydrogen Heat Transfer Facility (HTTF) into the HTF¹⁰.

1967

Lewis begins reacquiring property around Plum Brook perimeter.

1968

Apollo 8 circles Moon.

1969

Final test conducted at B–1.
Abe Silverstein retires and is replaced by Bruce Lundin.
AEC tests NERVA XE engine at Nevada Test Site.
Apollo 11 makes first lunar landing.

1970

B–2 and SPF begin operation.
Apollo 13 astronauts return to Earth following aborted mission.

1971

NERVA is redesigned as smaller rocket engine.

1972

President Nixon approves Space Shuttle Program.
NASA fiscal year 1973 budget submitted in September without NERVA.
Apollo 17 mission in December is final Apollo flight.

1973

NASA cancels nuclear rocket and power programs.
Lundin announces that Plum Brook will shut down.
Symposium fails to generate external interest in Plum Brook Station.
B–3 commences preparations for Centaur Standard Shroud (CSS) testing.
Staff begin mothballing the reactor and most of the RSA.

1974

F Site,¹¹ B–3, HTF, B–2, and K Site conduct final runs and are mothballed.
Titan-Centaur’s initial test flight fails.

1975

Plum Brook Mod-0A wind turbine begins operation.

1976

NASA review of Plum Brook outlines future options.
Titan-Centaur sends Viking vehicles to Mars.

1977

NASA cannibalizes some mothballed facilities.
Titan-Centaur launches two Voyager spacecraft.

1982

Lewis reduces B–1 and B–3 readiness status to Category 3.

1985

Operation of Plum Brook wind turbine ceases.
Office of Management and Budget recommends excessing Plum Brook.

1986

Office of Management and Budget decides to restore Plum Brook.

1987

Plum Brook begins reactivating its large test facilities.

1989

First test run conducted in reactivated SPF chamber.
K Site becomes operational with new slush hydrogen generator.

1993

HTF begins operations.

1996

B–2 facility fully restored.

1998

Demolition of Plum Brook Reactor Facility commences

2004

NASA offers centers funding to remove unused facilities.
E Stand is demolished.

2007

Lewis makes plans to remove Rocket Systems Area.

2009

A Site,⁶ C Site,⁷ F Site, and I Site⁸ are demolished.

2010

B–1 and B–3 stands and Gas Handling Area are demolished.

2012

H Control Building, K Site’s control building, and J–5¹⁵ hortonsphere are demolished.
Plum Brook Reactor decommissioning is completed.

Gallery

Rear of the Plum Brook Ordnance Works Administration Building — The rear of the Plum Brook Ordnance Works Administration Building in 1941.

Rocket firing horizontally out of test cell — March 1946 firing of a nitric acid aniline JATO rocket at the Rocket Lab, which was Lewis’ primary rocket testing facility until 1957.

A display on the center's high-energy rocket fuels research at Lewis' Rocket Engine Test Facility (10/8/1957). — A display on the center’s high-energy rocket fuels research at Lewis’ Rocket Engine Test Facility (10/8/1957).

Equipment inside warehouse — In March 1958 NACA officials reviewed leftover equipment for the Plum Brook Ordnance Works for use at the Rocket Systems Area.

Construction of A Site in January 1959. A Site became operational in the spring of 1962.

Man watched structure burning — Heat from a controlled burn of a Ordnance Works Building warps its steel frame. In 1963 NASA systematically decontaminated and destroyed unneeded Ordnance Works structures.

A test engineer monitors the A Site control panel at the H Control Building (5/14/1963).

Connections and pipes connecting the hydrogen and oxygen storage tanks to A Site (7/12/1964).

Left to right, Lewis Director Abe Silverstein, Congressman Charles Mosher, unknown visitor, and Plum Brook Director Alan Johnson tour Plum Brook (5/3/1963).

View across field at Plum Brook Station Engineering Building — Plum Brook Station Engineering Building in 1970.

Massive door inside SPF — Doorway leading into the Space Power Facility’s vacuum chamber shortly before it began operations in late 1969.

Staff gathers in Reactor control room — The staff gathers in the in the control room to shut down the Plum Brook Reactor Facility for the last time on hours after NASA announced the closure of Plum Brook Station (1/5/1973).

Wind Turbine at Plum Brook — The 100-kw wind turbine at Plum Brook Station (9/28/1978).

Deer looking at camera — Plum Brook Station’s protected fence line has created a sanctuary for a plethora of wildlife populations, including roughly 2,000 deer.

Group tours K Site — General David Stringer leads a group of Headquarters visitors on a tour of K Site in 2007.

Acoustic vibration chamber to the Space Power Facility — NASA added an acoustic vibration chamber to the Space Power Facility in the 2010s to simulate vibrational stresses that impact rockets during launch.

Rocket Systems Area Testing Timeline