Test Stand at the Rocket Engine Test Facility

The thrust stand in the Rocket Engine Test Facility at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The Rocket Engine Test Facility was constructed in the mid-1950s to expand upon the smaller test cells built a decade before at the Rocket Laboratory. The $2.5-million Rocket Engine Test Facility could test larger hydrogen-fluorine and hydrogen-oxygen rocket thrust chambers with thrust levels up to 20,000 pounds. Test Stand A, seen in this photograph, was designed to fire vertically mounted rocket engines downward. The exhaust passed through an exhaust gas scrubber and muffler before being vented into the atmosphere. Lewis researchers in the early 1970s used the Rocket Engine Test Facility to perform basic research that could be utilized by designers of the Space Shuttle Main Engines. A new electronic ignition system and timer were installed at the facility for these tests. Lewis researchers demonstrated the benefits of ceramic thermal coatings for the engine’s thrust chamber and determined the optimal composite material for the coatings. They compared the thermal-coated thrust chamber to traditional unlined high-temperature thrust chambers. There were more than 17,000 different configurations tested on this stand between 1973 and 1976. The Rocket Engine Test Facility was later designated a National Historic Landmark for its role in the development of liquid hydrogen as a propellant.