Aerojet Rocketdyne History: More Than A Century In The Making

What started out in 1915 as General Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, has evolved over a century into one of the nation’s strongest aerospace and defense leaders.

The company’s diverse history includes forays into ownership of everything from radio and television stations to movie studios to hotels and even at one time an airline company.

In 1945, General Tire and Rubber jumped into the aerospace and defense industry with the purchase of Aerojet Engineering Corp. With the merger of Crosley Motors in 1953, the subsidiary was officially renamed Aerojet-General Corporation.

Over the last 10 decades, the company has led efforts that have helped further our nation’s advancements in space and our development as a global superpower.

During World War II, the company’s jet-assisted take off (JATO) units allowed military planes to launch from short runways and aircraft carriers. And during the Cold War, Aerojet solid rocket motors powered the dependable anti-aircraft HAWK missile that is still being deployed more than 60 years later.

1940s and 1950s

Aerojet’s Jet-fuel Assisted Take Off technology propelled an overloaded aircraft into the air

A black and white photo of a group of men in front of a plane

A black and white photo of a group of people in front of a building

A black and white graphic of the different programs produced at the Sacramento facility in 1959

Aerojet’s Jet-fuel Assisted Take Off (JATO) technology propelled an overloaded aircraft into the air throughout WWII by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets. This JATO take-off, an ERCO Ercoupe fitted with a JATO GALCIT booster, performed at March Field, Calif., on Aug. 23, 1941.

Aerojet Engineering Corporation founders at Muroc during Aerojet-designed rocket flight tests. Pictured (left to right): Theodore C. Coleman, director; John W. Parsons; Edward S. Forman; Colonel Paul H. Dane, pilot; Andrew G. Haley; Dr. Theodore von Kármán; Dr. Frank J. Malina; Dr. Martin Summerfield and T. Edward Beehan

In 1950, Aerojet acquired 7,300 acres just east of Sacramento on Highway 50. The area had been dredged for gold by the Natomas Mining Company, creating large berms that were well suited for rocket tests. In March 1951, Aerojet moved its solid rocket motor production from Azusa to Sacramento and the first propellant processing line went into operation on Aug. 31.

The Titan launch vehicle family was established in October 1955 when the U.S. Air Force awarded a contract to build a heavy-duty space system. The program became known as the Titan I, the nation’s first two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile and the first underground silo-based ICBM. The Titan launch vehicle was retired from service in mid-1987.

1960s and 1970s

A black and white aerial photograph of Polaris casting construction in Sacramento, California.

In 1963 US President John F Kennedy presents a medal to Dr Theodore von Kármán

US Senator Henry M (“Scoop”) Jackson digs a shovel into the ground as others watch on

Smoke fires underneath a rocket preparing for lift-off

1962 aerial view of Polaris casting construction in Sacramento, Calif.

Dr. Theodore von Kármán receives the first National Medal of Science from U.S. President John F. Kennedy on Feb. 18, 1963. The president commented that he was happy to present the medal to “one of the pioneers who helped to make this new and exciting world possible.” Pictured (left to right): Gen. G.T. McHugh, President Kennedy, Gen. Bernard Schriever, Dr. von Kármán, Judge Victor Anfuso and General Curtis LeMay

U.S. Sen. Henry M (“Scoop”) Jackson turns the first earth for what became the Rocket Research Corporation (RRC). Throughout the next three-plus decades, RRC became Olin Aerospace and then spun off to form PRIMEX Aerospace. The company was ultimately sold to General Dynamics before joining Aerojet in 2002. Seen above (left to right): Bernie Beckelman; Joshua Green Sr.; Bill Sibley; Senator Jackson; Mayor Gerhardt Graep; Dr. George S. Sutherland and Robert Bridgforth, Jr.

On July 16, 1969, a Saturn V launch vehicle launched the Apollo 11 mission, sending three American astronauts on their inaugural mission to the moon. On July 20, Neil Armstrong stepped off the Apollo Lunar Module (LM), named Eagle, and declared that he had made “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

A Peacekeeper missile roars into the sky after a silo launch at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. In service from 1986 to 2005, the second stage SR119 solid fuel motor was built by Aerojet General. The LGM-118A Peacekeeper was a land-based ICBM deployed by the United States.

Contributions to the national space program have been equally significant. The company was at the heart of America’s Space Age, helping Apollo 11 transport the first astronauts to the moon’s surface and safely back home in 1969, and taking part in every space shuttle mission flown among many other milestones. To date, Aerojet Rocketdyne has helped power more than 1,600 rocket launches and today stands at the forefront of the world’s journey to Mars.

In 1984, the General Tire and Rubber name was changed to GenCorp and it was established as a parent holding company. Eventually, the company exited the tire business entirely by divesting General Tire in 1987.

In 2010, GenCorp formed Easton Development Co., LLC to concentrate on the sustainable development of approximately 6,000 acres of excess undeveloped GenCorp land, identified as prime real estate and located 15 miles east of Sacramento, California.
In 2013, GenCorp acquired Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne from United Technologies Corp. to form Aerojet Rocketdyne, a major leader in the aerospace industry.

On April 27, 2015, the corporate name of the company was officially changed from GenCorp, Inc. to Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. to honor the company’s heritage of continuous product innovation and mission success and to recognize its significant contributions to national defense and space exploration for more than 70 years.

Today, Aerojet Rocketdyne stands as part of L3Harris Technologies.

1980s and 1990s

A close-up photo of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s liquid propellant engines

A missile flies above a tank in a field with mountains in the background

A spacecraft hovers near an asteroid in an artist rendition

NASA’s crewed orbital rocket and spacecraft system, known as the space shuttle program, spanned from its inaugural launch in 1981 to its final historic flight and landing in July 2011.

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s reusable, storable liquid propellant engines were manufactured for space shuttle orbit insertion, orbit transfer, course maneuvers and re-entry. The pressure-fed Orbital Maneuvering Subsystem engine for the space shuttle fired hundreds of times over millions of miles in space and proved durable and dependable throughout NASA’s 30-year space shuttle program.

The Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked and Wire-Guided (TOW) missile launch motor was developed and qualified for the Army by Atlantic Research Corporation. (Photo courtesy: The Rocket Scientists by Philip Key Reily)

An artist’s rendering is seen here of the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft’s rendezvous with the asteroid Eros. (Image produced for NASA by Pat Rawlings, SAIC.)

2000s and 2010s

Aerojet Rocketdyne conducts a final test of its solid rocket motor

A spacecraft hovers above a red surface on Mars

A NOAA and NASA rocket prepares for liftoff

A hypersonic missile glides among red and blue clouds in an artist rendition

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s investment in ramjet propulsion technology throughout the last several decades has resulted in the development and production of the world’s first solid-fueled Variable Flow Ducted Rocket missile engine. The Supersonic Sea-Skimming Target (SSST) ramjet propulsion system successfully completed the first flight test of the Coyote High Diver variant supersonic target mission in August 2010.

On Dec. 11, 2002, Aerojet Rocketdyne conducted this final test fire of its solid rocket motor. The full-scale, 67-foot Atlas V solid rocket motor performed a full-duration burn for 95 seconds at the company’s massive test stand near Sacramento at thrust levels ranging from 285,000 to 390,000 pounds.

THAAD launcher, Oct. 21, 2009. (Credit: MDA)

Aerojet Rocketdyne thrusters guide NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft as it makes a soft landing on the Martian surface. Aerojet Rocketdyne provided mission-critical propulsion for all phases of the voyage, ranging from launch, cruise and for the smooth landing onto the northern polar region of the planet.

Nov. 19, 2016 - Aerojet Rocketdyne successfully supported the launch of the next-generation GOES-R for NASA and NOAA. (Credit: United Launch Alliance)

The X-51A WaveRider, a Boeing hypersonic aircraft tests the limits of flight. The X-51A hypersonic jet was tested and raced across the skies Mach 5.1. (3,400 mph).

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2020s

Four rocket engines sit underneath an American flag at a facility

A satellite orbits in space around the Sun

Glide Breaker hypersonic missiles fly above clouds

A rover roams a desert-like landscape among rough terrain

A soldier fires a missile from a shoulder launcher in a field

Feb. 3, 2020 - Four AR RL10 rocket engines – shown here at the company’s facility in West Palm Beach, Florida – were delivered to NASA. The engines will be used to help power the upper stage of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

The Solar Orbiter mission will face the Sun from within the orbit of Mercury at its closest approach. (Credit: ESA/ATG medialab)

Artist’s concept of Glide Breaker. (Credit: DARPA)

Artist's concept of NASA's Perseverance Rover. Perseverance's power source, a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne, is visible at the aft end of the rover. (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.)

Stinger (Credit: Raytheon)

Assembled and flight-certified after the completion of the Space Shuttle Program, RS-25 engine 2063 is slated to launch on Artemis II, the second flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). Four RS-25 engines power each SLS launch.

Aerojet Rocketdyne History: More Than A Century In The Making