Near San Clemente, California, Northrop Grumman’s Capistrano Test Site (CTS) has been a proving ground for state-of-the-art technologies since 1963. The 2,700-acre site contains test areas used to develop and test spacecraft and rocket propulsion systems. It was the development site for the Lunar Module Descent Engine – the engine that landed Apollo astronauts on the moon six times and propelled the damaged Apollo 13 module back on course. TRW was bought by Northup Grumman in 2002.

More than 50,000 tests were conducted at CTS on space propulsion, directed energy, and advanced energy projects from organizations including the National Air and Space Administration (NASA), the Missile Defense Administration (MDA), the U.S. Navy, Army and Air Force, the Department of Energy, and commercial customers.

Test sites and buildings within CTS include the High Energy Propellant Test Stand, the Vertical Engine Test Stand, the Fossil Energy Test Site, the Chemical Laboratory, and Administration buildings.

For more information about this Collection, see the Descriptive Finding Guide.

Images from this Collection have been digitized and placed on Flickr.