Orion Spacecraft Arrives in Ohio Aboard the Super Guppy at Mansfield Lahm Airport

Groundbreaking Ceremony at the NACA's Plum Brook Station

Addison Rothrock, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’s (NACA) Assistant Director of Research, speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory’s new test reactor at Plum Brook Station. This dedication event was held almost exactly one year after the NACA announced that it would build its $4.5 million nuclear reactor on 500 acres of the army’s 9000-acre Plum Brook Ordnance Works. The site was located in Sandusky, Ohio, approximately 60 miles west of the NACA Lewis laboratory in Cleveland. Lewis Director Raymond Sharp is seated to the left of Rothrock, Congressman Albert Baumhart and NACA Secretary John Victory are to the right. Many government and local officials were on hand for the press conference and ensuing luncheon. In the wake of World War II the military, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the NACA became interested in the use of atomic energy for propulsion and power. A Nuclear Division was established at NACA Lewis in the early 1950s. The division’s request for a 60-megawatt research reactor was approved in 1955. The semi-remote Plum Brook location was selected over 17 other possible sites. Construction of the Plum Brook Reactor Facility lasted five years. By the time of its first trial runs in 1961 the aircraft nuclear propulsion program had been cancelled. The space age had arrived, however, and the reactor would be used to study materials for a nuclear powered rocket.

The European Service Module Structural Test Article (in the background) photographed at the Space Power Facility at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio on Nov. 30, 2015. Group photo (including JSC Director Ellen Ochoa) taken in front of structure. Part of Batch image transfer from Flickr.

European Service Module Testing

Dedication of the Mod-0 Wind Turbine at Plum Brook Station

Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) Administrator Robert Seamans addresses the crowd at the dedication ceremony for the Mod-0 100-kilowatt wind turbine at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Plum Brook Station. The wind turbine program was a joint NASA/ERDA effort to develop less expensive forms of energy during the 1970s. NASA Lewis was able to use its experience with aerodynamics, powerplants, and energy transfer to develop efficient and cost-effective wind energy systems. The Plum Brook wind turbine was the first of a series of increasingly powerful NASA-ERDA wind turbines built around the nation. From left to right: Congressional Committee aide John Dugan, retired S. Morgan Smith Company chief engineer Carl Wilcox, windmill pioneer Beauchamp Smith, NASA Administrator James Fletcher, Seamans, and Lewis Center Director Bruce Lundin. The three men to the right are unidentified.

Visit to Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field by Mercury 13 Astr

Orion - EM-1 - Artemis Spacecraft Arrival at Mansfield Lahm A...

“When I started in the aerospace industry, I was shocked by how outnumbered I was. At my first job, I was the only woman in a group of 35 people. I was the youngest by 15 years. And I was like ‘wow, okay. This is surprising.’ "As I got older and had more professional experiences, I started working with American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. I was the first young professional liaison to their board of directors… so I was always trying to do things to encourage young professionals to get more involved. Over time, I started to do more and more work with university students, and then high school students. "That’s the fun part of outreach — I not only get to inspire kids, I also inspire myself. It reminds me to pick my head up at that 35,000 foot-level and say, ‘you know what? This is pretty cool.' "I’m selfish. I want to see more women go into engineering. I think there’s a lot of data on how more diversity on an engineering team makes a better product. Companies that have more diversity in their leadership have better profits. I want to see more women in the workforce. I want to see more women in technical fields. I want to see more women in technical leadership.” — Nicole Smith, Chief of Exploration Systems Office, Glenn Research Center Orion - EM-1 - Artemis Spacecraft Arrival at Mansfield Lahm Airport, Transportation to Plum Brook Station and Installation in the Space Environment Complex, SEC Thermal Vacuum Chamber

Visit to Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field by Mercury 13 Astr