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The Lockheed Propulsion Company was a division of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation located at 1500 Crafton Avenue in the Mentone, California area northeast of Redlands, California, adjacent to the Santa Ana River, from 1961 to 1975. It developed, tested and produced solid rocket motors and propellant used in military and National Aeronautics and Space Administration applications. The site consists of approximately 400 acres which was leased from the City of Redlands. The predecessor Grand Central Rocket Company facility was used for the production, testing and disposal of solid rocket propellant used in rocket engines. Lockheed used the facility for research and for production of solid fuel rockets for military and commercial use until 1974.〔http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/PHA.asp?docid=51&pg=1#sum〕 ==History== The Lockheed Propulsion Company was originally founded in 1952 as the Grand Central Rocket Company by Major C. C. Moseley, co-founder of Western Airlines 〔http://www.godickson.com/ahsfvstory.htm〕 and Charles E. Bartley, the inventor of rubber-based solid rocket fuel propellants.〔http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-67787514.html〕 Grand Central was sold in 1961 to become the Lockheed Propulsion Company as a research and production facility of solid fuel rockets and solid rocket propellant.〔http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/PHA.asp?docid=51&pg=1#sum〕 The Redlands plant provided the ABL X-248 Altair third stage 〔http://www.ericweisstein.com/encyclopedias/rockets/Viking,Redstone,andVanguard.html〕 of the Explorer I satellite launch vehicle in 1958. Grand Central signed a contract to produce the solid rocket motor for the Project Mercury escape tower. This motor was ultimately produced by Lockheed when the Redlands plant was sold to Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.〔http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/app9.htm〕 Between 1966 and 1975, the Boeing Company sub-contracted with Lockheed Propulsion Company for propellants used in the AGM-69 short-range attack missile.〔http://www.pubklaw.com/rd/boards/asbca54853.pdf〕 For the Apollo program, Lockheed Propulsion Company provided both the Launch Escape Motor and the Pitch Control Motor of the emergency escape tower atop the Apollo command module, using propellant made of polysulfides.〔http://www.apollosaturn.com/asnr/escape.htm〕〔http://apollomaniacs.web.infoseek.co.jp/apollo/lese.htm〕 On 27 January 1972, the Marshall Spaceflight Center selected Aerojet-General, Lockheed Propulsion Company, Thiokol Chemical Company, and United Technology Center to study the use of 120-inch and 156-inch solid motors as part of the Space Shuttle booster package.〔http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012/vol3/table1.39.htm〕 Thiokol was ultimately selected as the solid rocket booster provider on 20 November 1973. In January 1974, Lockheed protested to the General Accounting Office (GAO) NASA's selection of Thiokol as designer of the SRB. Because of the protest, NASA issued Thiokol a 90-day study contract on 13 February so the firm could continue its work while GAO studied the situation. The study contract was extended again on 20 May for 45 days. In May 1975, NASA confirmed the Thiokol SRB contract.〔http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012/vol3/table1.39.htm〕 With the end of the Apollo project contracts, and no orders for the Space Shuttle program, as well as the conclusion of the AGM-69 SRAM project, Lockheed Propulsion Company was closed and sold in 1975.〔http://www.pubklaw.com/rd/boards/asbca54853.pdf〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lockheed Propulsion Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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