Rocks to Rockets

The moon room links space exploration and Prairie City SVRA. This area was once home to the world's largest site for rocket engine development. A three story underground bunker was built to protect scientists during testing of one of the most powerful rocket engines ever developed. The M-1 rocket engine was designed to lift a million pounds into space, equivalent to the weight of 36 school busses. The engine was developed to support manned missions to Mars and lunar colonies. The need for this extremely powerful engine was short lived after the nation's focus switched to putting a person on the moon. Innovations and technology developed here were later used in future programs including the Space Shuttle.

California · United States