Posted by: Naaman
In the 1960's the AeroJet company was considered as the possible supplier of solid-fuel rocket motors to be used as primary power plants for the Saturn I space booster. The idea, in simple terms, was to use a single, very large rocket motor in place of a number of smaller rocket motors. A complex was constructed in the Everglades to manufacture and test the rockets.
The AJ260 was the largest rocket motor ever produced and during it’s testing, created the highest decibel noise-level ever created by man. Its blast could be seen easily, 50 miles away in Miami. Despite it’s great power and sprawling manufacturing complex, the project was dropped by NASA.
Nighttime Test Fire
All that remains are the ruins of the manufacturing facility, and of course, the rocket, which still sits in its firing tube in the middle of a swamp where it has been waiting for 50 years. The swamp has begun to reclaim this giant complex which stretches across five miles of desolate swamp.
The main complex of huge buildings, a great find itself, is not the highlight of this location. No, the highlight is a smaller metal shack about four miles further into the swamp. Half the roof is missing and a
small group of turkey vultures have made the place their home. If you walked through the building you may not even notice it was there, but underneath your feet, below a
rusted metal floor is a rocket.
Placing the rocket in the tube.
A trip deep into the Everglades and eleven miles on a girls bicycle will prove rewarding...if you're into this sort of stuff:
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The Shack, which can be seen in the Nighttime Test Fire picture posted above.
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Update: July 2013.
Photo Credit: BulletFL
