Grand Central Rocket/Lockheed Propulsion Company Test Site (Beaumont, California)

USA / California / San Jacinto / Beaumont, California
 nature conservation park / area, historic ruins
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In the 1960s and early 1970s, the Grand Central Rocket Company, and later the Lockheed Propulsion Company (which purchased Grand Central Rocket) used this remote site near Beaumont, to test solid rocket propellant and motors, weapons, and ballistics.

www.lockheedmartin.com/us/who-we-are/sustainability/rem...
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   33°51'33"N   116°56'50"W

Comments

  • I remember the Apollo Rocket systems being tested here. I only lived a few miles away and the tests were like an earthquake. The boosters were upside down and lit off. Also known as the Potrero Rocket Test Site. http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/c86m34t4/?layout=metadata http://www.banninglibrarydistrict.org/banning/documents/lockheed%20propulsion%20plant.pdf
  • If you want to see the place for yourself, take Interstate 10 to Beaumont, California; take Highland Springs Avenue south until it ends at the locked gate. Hike or dirt bike into this vast 9,000 acre site where you will find the massive rocket engine test stand near Potrero Creek (look for the big trees) on the south east portion of the property. In the middle of the property you will find the concrete bunker and rocket fuel mixing plant. California Department of Fish and Game now owns most of the property to protect the kangaroo rat.
  • If you want to see a few close up photos of this place go to https://www.flickr.com/photos/129259403@N02/
This article was last modified 12 years ago