Historical Documents
A collection of digitized historical documents, narrative histories, reference material, and technical reports related to the history of the Rocket Lab facility.
NASA Glenn Research Center
Historic Facilities
Rocket Laboratory
Histories
- NACA High Energy Propellant Research in 1950s (1971)
- Liquid Hydrogen as a Propulsion Fuel, 1945-1959
- NASA’s Hydrogen Outpost: The Rocket Systems Area at Plum Brook Station (2016)
- Ideas Into Hardware: A History of the Rocket Engine Test Facility (2004)
Presentations
- Rocket Research Talk at the NACA’s 1947 Inspection
- Rocket Research Talk at the NACA’s 1949 Inspection
- NACA Conference on Fuels (1948)
- Review of Rocket Research at Lewis (1952)
- High-Energy Rocket Propellant Talks at NACA Inspection (1957)
- Materials Research Talk at 1966 Inspection
- Cleaner Skies Presentation at 1973 Inspection
Facility
Rocket Lab Descriptions
- High Pressure Combustion Laboratory description (1946)
- Rocket Lab Overview (1957)
- Rocket Lab Description (1957)
- Rocket Lab Facility Data (1959)
- Rocket Lab Overview (1992)
- Rocket Lab Fact Sheets (2000s)
- Rocket Lab Test Schedules (1945-1950)
- Rocket Lab Renaming (1949-1950)
Cell Descriptions
- Rocket Lab Complex Layouts (1956-2000)
- Rocket Lab Facilities Manual (1991)
- Rocket Lab Test Cell Descriptions (1993)
- Rocket Lab Space Combustion Facilities (1994)
- Rocket Lab Test Cell Descriptions (1993)
- Rocket Lab Space Combustion Facilities (1994)
- Cell 11 Mach 4 Rocket-powered Supersonic Tunnel (1958)
- Cell 11 Combustor Flame Flashback Apparatus (1985)
- Cell 11 Low Thrust Rocket Test Facility (1990)
- Cell 11 Facility Outline (1988)
- Cell 11 Laser Rayleigh and Raman Diagnostics for Small Hydrogen/oxygen Rockets (1993)
- Cell 12 Facility Outline (1988)
- Cell 13 Facility Outline (1988)
- Cell 14 Facility Outline (1988)
- Cell 21 Low Thrust Rocket Facility Description (1993)
- Cell 21 New Test Stands for Cells 21 and 22 (2002)
- Cell 21 Facility Outline (1988)
- Cell 22 Facility Outline (1988)
- Cell 22 A Versatile Rocket Engine Hot Gas Facility (1993)
- Cell 22 Combustion Research Facility for Testing Advanced Materials (2003)
- Cell 22 Characterizing the Chemical Stability of High Temperature Materials (2005)
- Cell 23 Facility Outline (1988)
- Cell 23 Combuster Test Facilities (1995)
- RL-23 Combustor Test Facility (1995)
- Cell 23 Fuel-Flexible Gas Turbine Combustor Flametube Facility (2004)
- Cell 24 Facility Outline (1988)
- Cell 32 Description (1993)
- Cell 32 A New Facility for Advanced Rocket Propulsion Research (2012)
- Cell 32 Chemical Propulsion Research Complex
- Scrubber description (1959)
Floor Plans
- Cell 11 and 12 Floor Plans (1956-2000)
- Cells 13 and 14 Floor Plans (1956-2000)
- Cells 21 and 22 Floor Plans (1956-2000)
- Cells 23 and 24 Floor Plans (1956-2000)
- Service Building Floor Plans (1956-2000)
- Instrument Building Floor Plans (1969-2000)
- Shop Building Floor Plans (1956-2000)
- Scrubber diagrams
Safety Measures
- Rocket Lab Warning Sign article (1956)
- Cell 22 Explosion Investigation (1957)
- Reorganization of Safety Committee (1960)
- Rocket Lab Safety Manual (1959)
Demolition
- Demolition Fact Sheet (2016)
- NASA Glenn Holds Public Meeting on Upcoming Demolition (2017)
- Public Meeting on Demolition of Rocket Lab (2018)
Test Reports
Ignition
- Starting of Rocket Engine at Conditions of Simulated Altitude (1950)
- Altitude Ignition of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines (1949)
Cooling
- Internal film cooling of a 1000lb ammonia and LOX engine (1951)
- Evaluation of Ablative Materials as Nozzle Sections (1966)
- Evaluation of Ablative Materials as Nozzle Sections (1969)
- Design and Testing of 1000-pound Thrust FLOX-Propane Ablative Engine (1969)
- Design of Injectors and Ablative Chambers for FLOX-Propane Engine (1969)
Screaming
- Combustion instability in an acid-heptane rocket (1951)
- Photographic investigation of combustion in a transparent engine (1953)
- Effect of Fuels on Screaming in 200-pound-thrust Liquid-oxygen Engine (1956)
High-Energy Propellants
- Investigation of the Diborane – Hydrogen Peroxide Combination (1948)
- Investigation of Liquid Diborane – Liquid Oxygen Combination (1949)
- Investigation of Liquid Fluorine – Liquid Diborane Combination (1951)
- Performance of chlorine trifluoride-hydrazine combination in 100lb engine (1949)
- Investigation of liquid fluorine and liquid diborane combination in 100lb engine (1951)
- Hydrogen-Fluorine and Hydrogen-Oxygen Research at Lewis (1961)
- Investigation of Liquid diborane and LOX combination in 100lb engine (1949)
- Internal film cooling of a 1000lb ammonia and LOX engine (1951)
- Performance of chlorine trifluoride-hydrazine combination in 100lb engine (1949)
- Investigation of liquid fluorine and liquid diborane combination in 100lb engine (1951)
- Investigation of liquid fluorine and liquid ammonia in a 100lb engine (1953)
- Performance of JP-4 fuel with FLOX mixtures in a 1000lb engine (1958)
- Experimental performance with a FLOX and JP-4 mixture (1955)
- Performance of Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Fluorine Regeneratively Cooled Engines (1959)
Alternative Fuels
- Ignition and Combustion of Metallized Propellants (1989)
- Subscale Powdered Aluminum and Oxygen Combustion (1993)
- Oxygen/RP-1/Aluminum Rocket Combustion Experiments (1995)
- Oxygen/RP-1/Aluminum Rocket Heat Transfer and Combustion (1996)
- Metallized Gelled Propellants in a Pulse Detonation Engine (2006)
- Carbon monoxide and oxygen ignition experiments (1990)
- Carbon monoxide and oxygen combustion experiments (1991)
- Heat transfer characteristics of carbon monoxide and oxygen engine (1993)
- Overview of Glenn’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission Thruster Testing (2014)
- Green Propellant Infusion Mission Program Development and Technology Maturation (2014)
- Green Propellant Infusion Mission Program Development (2014)
- NASA, Industry Test Additively Manufactured Rocket Engine Injector (2013)
- Design and Testing of 1000-pound Thrust FLOX-Propane Ablative Engine (1969)
- Design of Injectors and Ablative Chambers for FLOX-Propane Engine (1969)
Thrusters
- Temperature Effector on Thrust Buildup in Hydrogen Peroxide Rockets (1960)
- Performance of Bipropellant Fractional-Pound Thrusters (1968)
- Performance of a Water-Electrolysis Rocket (1969)
- 6670-Newton Attitude-Control Thruster using Hydrogen-Oxygen Propellant (1977)
- Design, Fabrication, and Test of a LOX/LCH4 RCS Igniter at NASA (2007)
- LOX-methane glow plug igniter tests (2009)
- Testing of Methane/Oxygen Catalytic Microtube Ignition System (2012)
Combustors
- Gas Turbine Combustor with Air Atomizing Fuel Injector System (1969)
- Effect of Diffuser Designs on an Experimental Turbojet Combustor (1971)
- Performance of Short Length Turbojet Combustor (1971)
- Combustor Liner Film Cooling in Free-Stream Turbulence (1971)
- Study of Spray Characteristics of a Airblast Atomizer (1985)
- Combustor Flame Flashback Report (1985)
- Fuel-rich, catalytic reaction experimental results (1991)
- Hydrogen/Air Fuel Nozzle Emissions Experiments (2000)
- Low emission hydrogen combustors using lean direct injection (2004)
Power Generation
- MHD Power Generator Facility – Tech Preview
- NASA Lewis H2-O2 MHD program (1974)
- Results and progress on the NASA Lewis H2-O2 MHD program (1976)
- Temperature distributions of a cesium-seeded hydrogen-oxygen supersonic free jet (1978)
- Lewis Pressurized, Fluidized-Bed Combustion Program–Data and Calculated Results (1982)
- Erosion/Corrosion of Airfoil Materials in the High-Velocity Effluent of a Pressurized Fluidized Coal Combustor (1978)
Single-Stage to Orbit
- X-33 Advanced Technology Demonstrator
- Combustion Wave Ignition for Rocket Engines (1992)
- CWI Test Operational Readiness Review (1998)
- X-33 Combustion-Wave Ignition System Tested (1998)
- Hypersonic engine experiments in a high heat flux environment (1993)
- Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion SiC Recession Model (2009)
Reference
NASA
- National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) overview
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory history
- Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) summary
- X-33 Technology Demonstration
- Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) history
Glenn Research Center
- Center Names Evolve article
- Glenn Historic Facilities websites
- John Sloop biography
- Abe Silverstein biography
Technical
- Propellants background information
- Specific impulse description
- Combustor technology description
- Shuttle Liquid Flyback Booster Configuration Options (1980)
- Pulse detonation engine rocket engines summary
- Novel Rocket Fuel Spawned Ferrofluids article
- IHPRP Materials Development Plan briefing (2000)
- Silicon-carbide-based ceramic matrix composites
- Green Propellant Infusion Program mission page
Additional Information on the Rocket Laboratory
Glenn History and Mitigation
Glenn Historic Preservation
NASA Glenn has worked with the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office to mitigate the loss of some of its historic facilities.
Glenn History Office
The NASA Glenn History Office documents the research, facilities, and people who have contributed to the center’s extensive history and manages the Glenn History Collection.
Glenn History
A brief historical overview of the over 80 years activities at NASA’s Glenn Research Center.