Aerojet General
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| Manufacture | |
| Fate | Merged |
| Successor | Aerojet Rocketdyne |
| Founded | 1942 |
| Defunct | 2013 |
| Headquarters | Rancho Cordova, California, United States |
| Products | Rocket and missile propulsion |
| Parent | GenCorp |
| Website | www |
Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp. In 2013, Aerojet was merged by GenCorp with the former Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to form Aerojet Rocketdyne.
Aerojet developed from a 1936 meeting hosted by Theodore von Kármán at his home. Joining von Kármán, who was at the time director of Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, were a number of Caltech professors and students, including rocket scientist and astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky and explosives expert Jack Parsons, all of whom were interested in the topic of spaceflight. The group continued to meet from time to time, but its activities were limited to discussions as opposed to experimentation.
Their first design was tested on August 16, 1941, consisting of a small cylindrical solid-fuel motor attached to the bottom of a plane. Takeoff distance was shortened by half, and the USAAF placed an order for experimental production versions.
Some aspects of the early operation of the company were described by Kármán in his autobiography:
Kármán soon relinquished the presidency: "Haley became Aerojet’s second president on August 26, 1942. He proved to be an incredible administrator." The company expanded and required new facilities: "In October, fifteen employees were drawing paychecks. By December we had expanded to about one hundred and fifty employees and in January 1943 we moved to Azusa, California." In 1943 the Army Air Forces finally placed a full order, demanding that 2000 rockets be delivered before year's end.
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Wikipedia