Fwd: Rocket Garden bench honors North American Aviation

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: October 3, 2014 10:49:58 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Rocket Garden bench honors North American Aviation

 

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2014/10/02/rocket-garden-bench-honors-north-american-aviation/16587835/

 

 

Rocket Garden bench honors North American Aviation

James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 6:19 p.m. EDT October 2, 2014

The unveiling of a memorial granite bench recognizing North American Aviation (NAA) contributions to the U.S. space program.The October 2nd 8:15am dedication ceremony at KSC Visitor Complex Rocket Garden featured speakers , seen here left to right,Therrin Protze, COO of KSC Visitor Complex, Bob Cabana, KSC Director, Lee Solid, retired NASA Senior Executive and Memorial Coordinator, and Robert Springer, former space shuttle astronaut. (Photo: TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY)

 

(Photo: TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY)

See link above for slide show.

 

Guests at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for years could tour the Rocket Garden unaware of one company's involvement in every rocket and spacecraft displayed there.

Now they can take in the scene while sitting on a black granite bench engraved with the name "North American Aviation, Inc.," in the shade of a Saturn V rocket engine built by the company's Rocketdyne division.

Retirees of North American Aviation and the companies it later joined dedicated the bench Thursday in a ceremony that celebrated their involvement in every human spaceflight program, and many others.

"We couldn't list all the programs here — the bench isn't big enough," joked Lee Solid, a former executive at Rocketdyne and Rockwell, which merged with North American Aviation, and an organizer of the tribute.

One side of the 1,800-pound bench's base lists six company divisions that did the work. The other, in smaller letters, catalogs the major NASA and military vehicles in which they played a part: Redstone, Jupiter, Thor, Atlas, Delta, Saturn and so on through "space shuttle orbiter and main engines" and work on the International Space Station.

Started in the 1920s as the aviation industry took off, North American moved into the space business with the experimental X-15 rocket plane, piloted by the likes of Neil Armstrong.

Video: North American Aviation is honored for space program efforts. Video by Tim Shortt. Posted Oct.2, 2014.

After moving its headquarters to Los Angeles, Solid said, the company had a role working with the German V-2 engine that launched the first rocket from Cape Canaveral in 1950.

An upgraded version of that engine powered Redstone rockets that would put the first American in space.

"And that led in turn to … look around you," said Solid, a 78-year-old Merritt Island resident, to an audience of about 75 fellow North American retirees, their spouses and special guests gathered in the Rocket Garden.

Some highlights include the Apollo command and service modules and the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, in addition to its powerful F-1 main engine.

The bench's placement next to the giant F-1, said Solid, "certainly makes it rather cool." North American retirees have donated similar benches to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, and National Navy Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla.

"We NAA retirees are proud of the contributions to this nation's aviation and aerospace programs, and we wanted to leave some kind of a token of that legacy," said Solid.

North American Aviation merged with Rockwell Standard in 1967 and became North American Rockwell. The name changed to Rockwell International, then simply Rockwell until The Boeing Co.'s 1996 acquisition of its aerospace and defense businesses. Rocketdyne changed hands along the way and is now part of Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Rockwell built six shuttle orbiters (including the prototype Enterprise) and Rocketdyne provided their main engines, which NASA plans to use again on its next exploration rocket, the Space Launch System.

"They just perform like you wouldn't believe," said KSC Director Bob Cabana, a four-time shuttle flyer. "When you get off those (shuttle solid rocket boosters), it's just like electric drive. It's just this smooth, steady, quiet acceleration."

Rick Custer moved to Brevard County in 1955 as a child when his father began working on the Air Force's Navaho[cq] missile program with North American Aviation, followed by Apollo and the shuttle. Custer followed in his footsteps.

"All of these rockets here in the Rocket Garden has some roots in NAA," said Custer, 72, of Titusville. "So North American Aviation should be recognized, and so should Rocketdyne, because the space shuttle main engine is the finest engine ever built for space. And now they're being recognized, as they should."

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.

 

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