Heavy machinery has just about leveled the old Rocketdyne office and rocket engine manufacturing complex on Canoga Avenue in the West Valley.
A big F-1 rocket engine, like those that powered Apollo missions to the moon, once greeted visitors at the complex. It was moved to the De Soto Avenue facility several years ago before the 40-plus acre Canoga Avenue site was prepared for new development.
Now, the view west from Canoga stretches to the Westfield Topanga parking structure on Owensmouth Avenue.
Not so visible are landmarks of the past.
For decades, some of the world’s brightest rocket scientists, engineers and factory workers turned out complex machines at the site that would power spacecraft into orbit around Earth, to the moon and to other planets. They played vital roles in helping the United States win the space race.
You could argue that the sprawling complex between Victory Boulevard and Vanowen Street qualified as a national treasure. The engines developed there powered everything from early intercontinental ballistic missiles to the Space Shuttle. And the company is still heavily involved in the nation’s space exploration from its De Soto complex.
Former Rocketdyne engineer Bill Vietinghoff has fond memories of those glory days.
“Oh, it was a beautiful place,” he said of the old complex. “A lot of people who worked there over the years were sad to see it go. A lot of the astronauts (who) came through Canoga Park, they wanted to have reassurance that the engines they were going to sit on were reliable.”
Among those astronauts was Apollo 8 crew member Frank Borman, II, one of Vietinghoff’s high school classmates. Famed German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun also visited.
The company was created in 1955 as a division of North American Aviation. The company has seen different owners over the years, but all did something smart: they kept the Rocketdyne name. Today it’s Aerojet Rocketdyne, or, simply, Rocketdyne.
Vietinghoff worked on the Atlas rocket program starting in 1958. That work helped Mercury 7 astronaut John Glenn become the first American to orbit the planet in 1962. Vietinghoff retired in 1998, but Rocketdyne contracted with him for 11 more years for a variety of projects.
He still remembers the work ethic that permeated the place.
“We were never casual about the work. I always felt the people I worked with were trying to do their best.”
What will eventually become of the property is unclear. United Technologies Corp., based in Farmington, Conn., held on to the property when it sold Rocketdyne to GenCorp Inc. in 2012.
But the Rocketdyne name is still on Canoga.
At the entrance to the Orange Line parking lot opposite the vanishing complex hangs a sign marking “Rocketdyne Dwy.”
I hope it hangs around for a long time.
