On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether youāre traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
?BillinGlendaleCA
When I was growing up in Thousand Oaks, every couple of weeks we would hear a loud roar and the windows in our house would start shaking. Earthquake, no; it was the testing of the J-2 rocket engine used on the second and third stages of the Saturn-V at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory about 10 miles away. I’ve long wanted to see the test stands that they used to test these engines that I heard and felt when I was a child and visited Sage Ranch Park at the northeast edge of the Laboratory in February of 2018 to attempt to photograph them but they were behind a ridge and not visible from the park.
Using Google Maps, I determined that I should be able to see the rocket test facilities from the west of the Laboratory. I charted two approaches to this area, one from the south via Las Virgenes Canyon and one from the north from a new development in Simi Valley. I ended up hiking in from Simi Valley and you couldn’t see too much until I took a road that lead to the top of ridge and the test facilities were directly in front of me. In addition to the view of the interior of the lab, I really liked the surrounding area as well. In a less light polluted area, this area would have some nice foregrounds for astro landscape shots.
First view of the lab headed up the trail.
It looks like there’s a windmill behind that hill.
Doesn’t look like I can continue this way.
After taking a side road and heading over a small ridge, the rocket test stands come into view.
A view to the easter side of the lab and Sage Ranch Park on the right.
The windmill seems a bit shorter than it appeared from a distance.
A nice meadow to the west.
A better view of the western portion of the lab.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Well, folks, this part 2 of a two part series, part 1 will be next week.Ā Sigh.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Still pretty in reverse.
raven
Only five miles from Corriganville movie ranch! I thought it looked familiar.
HinTN
As an old rocket jock I know all about Santa Susanna, although the J2 was long before my time. For a sense of how big those testy stands are, look closely at the stairs clearly visible facing the camera. Those were huge engines and they needed a huge test stand. NASA has similar rigs in Huntsville and Mississippi. The landscape there is very different! Looks like a nice hike.
Laura Too
These are so cool! Thanks!
JPL
Bill, I always enjoy your pictures and thank you for sending them in.
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: oops, i knew that’s what you wanted and I even had the second one set to post first, as you requested.
But then I rearranged because of the entire week of frosty and when I rearranged because of that, I forgot to reverse them.
Mea culpa!!!
J R in WV
Pretty Exotic subject matter, would blend well with deep space or Milky Way photos also too!
Great work, would have appreciated major blow up on the actual test stand photo for more details on the construction. But that’s just me, everyone does post production differently…
Thanks, Billin~!~
Mary G
I love the stumpy windmill and the beautiful blue skies.
jonas
That’s some iconic California landscape. It’s an amazing thing about that state — even in SoCal, one of the most densely urbanized regions of the country, you can hop on a freeway (hopefully at a low-traffic time of day) and in a few minutes be out in what appears to be endless wilderness.
Rand Careaga
My future ex-wife was working for Rocketdyne when half a century ago, six years after she first caught my eye, I finally secured her affections (she left the firm two years later to join me in Northern California). Thereās a dark side to that field laboratory: itās associated with the release of a shitload of chemical and radiological carcinogens, and with a statistically significant higher incidence of cancer among former employees and nearby residents. To learn more, feed āRocketdyneā and ācancer clusterā into the search engine of your choice.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Thanks, but makes a bit less sense.
@raven: Yup.
@HinTN: The testing for the F-1(Saturn-V first stage engines) were out at Edwards AFB in the Mojave desert.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Laura Too: Thanks.
@JPL: Glad you like them.
@WaterGirl: So it’s Frosty’s fault?Ā //
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV:
Yeah, I’ve thought of that, but I’d really have to use a wider shot for that.
I shot the test stands at 100mm, but the lens could zoom to 200mm.Ā I wanted to show some the environment around the stands.
@Mary G: It’s a nice art piece, thanks.
@jonas: Pretty much LA is surrounded by wilderness and quite a bit has been maintained as open space.
@Rand Careaga: Yup, there is a very dark side to the lab.Ā It was the site of one of the worst leaks of radioactivity when the sodium reactor partially melted down in 1959.
HinTN
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Yep. The two big stands at Marshall Space Flight Center look just like the one at the RPL on Edwards. And when von Braun decided they needed more capacity in a more remote location, the stands in Mississippi (Stennis Space Center) sprung up just like ’em.
BigJimSlade
Yeah, I’ve hiked in that area, too – nice landscape and curious facilities. I didn’t know specifically about the rockets! We knew some parts had been closed for a long time because of whatever toxicity might still be around.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@HinTN: They used the one at Edwards for the F-1 engines since they were viewed at too big to test at the lab and the proximity to Rocketdyne’s factory in Chatsworth.
@BigJimSlade: I’ve read some stories about what went on at the lab, it’s both chemical toxicity as well as radiation.Ā I didn’t know about the reactors there until a friend told me about it in high school.Ā It wasn’t really public until the late 70’s, including the partial meltdown in 1959.
BigJimSlade
Is that also the area where the first railroad (or just road?) into LA from northern CA went through?
Comrade Colette
Such cool pix and wonderful views of representative SoCal landscape.
My SIL’s dad died of lung cancer – lifetime non-smoker, but worked at Rocketdyne and then JPL for decades.
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Sadly, no. Ā No one to blame but me. Ā Dammit! Ā :-)
I have had the frosty submissions for months, it was me who decided to post a week of them all together, upending the previous schedule.
I’ll be doing that again with 5 more frosty in a few weeks.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@BigJimSlade: You’re thinking of the Santa Susana Pass tunnel, it’s a couple of miles northeast of the lab’s eastern border.
@Comrade Colette: Glad you like the pix, there’s been an elevated incidence of all sorts of cancers in those areas in Simi Valley and the West Valley close to the lab.
@WaterGirl: More Frosty?Ā Probably just about the time I do the fall color shots(if the smoke clears in the Eastern Sierra).