posted 10-01-2013 03:29 AM               

The F-1 in front has been a San Fernando Valley landmark and source of local pride, which I still remember driving by as a kid 30+ years ago, not to mention a place of pilgrimage for space fans.

They are moving it a few miles to the one facility that is still open. I will try to post some pics of the move.

Early next week, it will be partially disassembled by Coast Machinery Movers, a company that once moved Air Force One from San Bernardino to Simi Valley, and installed the jet inside the Ronald Reagan Library.

Then pending an oversize load permit from the city, a movers team will load the engine on a big-rig flatbed and haul it between 8 p.m. and midnight Wednesday from Aerojet Rocketdyne in Canoga Park to its new berth outside its plant in Chatsworth.

The engine that could propel a Saturn V to speeds of more than 6,000 mph will be trucked at no faster than 25 mph, company officials say. The journey should take no longer than 40 minutes.

posted 10-03-2013 03:39 PM               

Historic moon engine mockup takes short trip to new LA display

A mockup of a mighty moon engine took a short trip under moonlight Wednesday (Oct. 2), as it moved from its display of 35 years to a nearby outdoor pedestal in Los Angeles.

The 19-foot-tall (5.8-meters) Apollo F-1 engineering model was partially disassembled and then trucked the 3.3 miles (5.3 km) from outside the Canoga Park factory where the massive engines were assembled in the 1960s to Aerojet Rocketdyne's facility in Chatsworth, California. The move preceded the company closing the plant by the end of the year.

"We're moving the monument, the F-1, from that location because it's an important representation of our successful past," Brian Lariviere, the Aerojet Rocketdyne manager for the development of an upgraded version of the F-1 engine, said in an interview with collectSPACE. "We're moving it to our headquarters here, the Los Angeles headquarters of Aerojet Rocketdyne, to represent where we are going to go in the future."

posted 08-27-2016 07:45 AM               

For the past week, backhoes and front loaders have been ripping down the north side of the abandoned rocket engine plant during a demolition expected to take nine months to a year.

The 46-acre complex, shuttered by Aerojet Rocketdyne a few years ago, is slated to be transformed by owner United Technologies Corp. into a $3 billion "sustainable urban neighborhood."

Until then, the company and its developers will work with local and state agencies during an environmental cleanup that includes asbestos and soil removal and disposal of decades of contaminated concrete.

posted 10-31-2016 11:40 AM               

UTC [United Technologies Corporation] is seeking a highly-qualified professional curator/expert to spearhead an important interpretive program for commemoration of the former Rocketdyne Canoga Park plant (in the Canoga Park community of Los Angeles, California) in the history of manned space flight, with emphasis on the rockets and propulsion systems manufactured on-site.

This commemorative effort is required as part of a mitigation program, which was certified as part of the documentation prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to evaluate potential environmental impacts of a proposed Soil Management Plan at the site.

Please review and respond to the position description in the attached request for curator announcement.

posted 03-20-2017 12:27 PM               

You could argue that the sprawling complex between Victory Boulevard and Vanowen Street qualified as a national treasure. The engines developed there powered everything from early intercontinental ballistic missiles to the Space Shuttle. And the company is still heavily involved in the nation's space exploration from its De Soto complex.

Former Rocketdyne engineer Bill Vietinghoff has fond memories of those glory days.

"Oh, it was a beautiful place," he said of the old complex. "A lot of people who worked there over the years were sad to see it go. A lot of the astronauts (who) came through Canoga Park, they wanted to have reassurance that the engines they were going to sit on were reliable."