Oral History

As part of the demolition mitigation measures outlined in the 2014 Programmatic Agreement, and in an effort to preserve the history of rocket engine testing at SSFL, NASA conducted oral history interviews with former SSFL personnel regarding their experiences with engine testing activities. Below are the transcripts from these interviews:

William “Bill” Vietinghoff (1953-1998) - “Engineer Bill” discusses his involvement in testing and development of various engines, including Redstone, Navaho, and the Space Shuttle Main Engine.
John Costello (1954-1961) - John shares his experiences working on the Atlas ICBM program at SSFL.
Don Eddy (1955-1960) - Don discusses his work as a development engineer, including conducting component testing of the turbo pumps used in the early Navajo, Jupiter, Thor, and H-1 engines.
Donald Heim (1962-1998) - Donald discusses his involvement with the instrumentation group, responsible for the procurement, service, and calibration of instruments for various engine programs.
Aleli Kelton (1984-1991) - Aleli shares her experience working as a photographer for Rocketdyne at SSFL, capturing via high-speed and still photography rocket engine tests and many other events and people at SSFL.