My Visit to AeroJet
Okay so what is AeroJet in Homestead?
(For you Losties, think of it as a kind of real Life Dharma Initiative)
Starting about 1963 a company called AeroJet built a huge complex near homestead Florida. The purpose; Build Rocket Motors. And they did, including 3 large scale test firings. But they failed to gain the NASA contract and the site was eventually abandoned sometime after 1969.
The site seems to have been largely forgotten for quite a while though in recent years it has been "discovered" as a site for urban explorers. Sadly along with well meaning explorers who want to leave the site intact and let the slow natural decay proceed there also come many vandals, graffiti artists and metal salvagers who seem bent on destroying everything. Why, just because they can.
(For you Losties, think of it as a kind of real Life Dharma Initiative)
Starting about 1963 a company called AeroJet built a huge complex near homestead Florida. The purpose; Build Rocket Motors. And they did, including 3 large scale test firings. But they failed to gain the NASA contract and the site was eventually abandoned sometime after 1969.
The site seems to have been largely forgotten for quite a while though in recent years it has been "discovered" as a site for urban explorers. Sadly along with well meaning explorers who want to leave the site intact and let the slow natural decay proceed there also come many vandals, graffiti artists and metal salvagers who seem bent on destroying everything. Why, just because they can.
The site has suffered greatly in recent years. Where once you could still find relatively intact control panels and scales for weighing propellant chemicals you now find buildings that are mostly gutted. Smashed equipment racks on the ground stripped of anything that might provide a souvenir.
The Silo and Giant Rocket Engine are still there, though it seems I was one of the last to see it for a long time. More about it later. I'm sad to say I came late to this site and saw mostly devastation and hollow shells of building. And it seems that even the little that remains is rapidly disappearing. Here is my visit of 15 May 2013. |
This sign next to the entry road seems to indicate that hunting (or at least shooting) is okay but that is contradicted by another sign further in.
Access is by a straight arrow road south of the Ingraham Highway. This is the nature trail AKA "The Great Florida Birding Trail". There are a few gates clearly designed to let foot and bicycle traffic through but prevent motor vehicles.
To the right as you enter (West) is a waterway and picnic shelters. To the left you can see the old buildings looming in the distance. And this is where the legality gets a bit sketchy. The roads leading East typically have chain link gates, when I was there they were open because construction crews were demolishing the building over the silo. But chain link is not very secure and even if the gates were closed it would be pretty easy to get a bike through holes existing in the fence.
My first priority when I got to the site was the rocket silo I had read about so many times. I had ridden the bike 7 1/2 miles from the Everglades Hostel where I had stayed the previous night and the silo was still another five mile bike ride from the highway.The Eastbound gate to the silo was wide open, no need to drag the bike through the hole in the fence.
As I approached the building covering the silo I saw what I had recently read about. Workers dismantling the building and loading the scrap metal up to be hauled away. Would they stop me? Would I have to leave before I even got a chance to see the thing I had come so far for? Fortunately they just ignored me. Yeah!
As I approached the building covering the silo I saw what I had recently read about. Workers dismantling the building and loading the scrap metal up to be hauled away. Would they stop me? Would I have to leave before I even got a chance to see the thing I had come so far for? Fortunately they just ignored me. Yeah!
There was really only one hole big enough to take pictures through in the rusted metal cover, So all the many photos of the rocket you find on the net look much alike, mine included.
But I went a bit further than most. I bought a piece of string with me and lowered my camera down the hole while shooting video. Okay I'm not the first to do that either but there are no pictures like the ones you take yourself.
I lowered my camera once then withdrew waited a while for the sun to get a bit higher and I also added another string to reach down further. I was just starting this deeper shot when . . . BUSTED !!!
Well not really busted but that's when the guy from the South Florida Water Management District showed up and told me I had to leave. To be honest he was about as nice and sympathetic about it as he could have been. We actually chatted for awhile and I enjoyed talking with him but then I had to go. Errr actually the same guy caught me in one of the other buildings later on. More on that later.
My video appears further down in the "Links" section.
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So once I got chased out of the silo area my first stop was the little bunker house. Inside, what was left of some instrument panels. Not much after 40 years of vandalism.
I lowered my camera once then withdrew waited a while for the sun to get a bit higher and I also added another string to reach down further. I was just starting this deeper shot when . . . BUSTED !!!
Well not really busted but that's when the guy from the South Florida Water Management District showed up and told me I had to leave. To be honest he was about as nice and sympathetic about it as he could have been. We actually chatted for awhile and I enjoyed talking with him but then I had to go. Errr actually the same guy caught me in one of the other buildings later on. More on that later.
My video appears further down in the "Links" section.
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So once I got chased out of the silo area my first stop was the little bunker house. Inside, what was left of some instrument panels. Not much after 40 years of vandalism.
Then it was onward to some of the other buildings on site.
Caught a second time
During my visit to the buildings I would leave my bike parked right in the open and I was caught again by the gentleman from South Florida Water Management who was checking the buildings in his truck. Once again he was very low key about it. So I left the building area and ate lunch in one of the nature trail shelters nearby. (Hint to urban explorers, it's always a good idea to pack a lunch) After watching the road a while (easy because it's straight as an arrow). I saw his truck leave, then after a while I dove back in, more watchful this time and parking the bike more discreetly.
The Airplane
While I exploring I heard an airplane flying around very very low. A private pilot sightseeing? Local official looking for trespassers? I don't know, but I rushed under cover and stayed until it was gone. He was buzzing the site very low. I have read somewhere another account of a low flying plane over the site. My guess is that this is an official patrol. It's a huge area, sportsmen and explorers do come in and I'm sure get into trouble from time to time. Cell phone coverage must be poor to none, so if a person were hurt they might really appreciate that patrol.
The future of the AeroJet site ?
The Rocket:
During our conversation the guy from South Florida Water Management told me they were demolishing the building and planning to seal up the opening. He was not specific about how that would be done but I had read rumors of a concrete cap and that seemed a real possibility. In fact, it was those rumors that spurred me to finally stop procrastinating and do what I had to do to visit the site before it was too late.
As I was writing this I looked again at the blog postings and found that indeed the opening of the silo has been sealed. The posting describes a visit on 30 June 2013 the silo has been sealed with huge concrete I beams. It will be a long time until anyone sees the body of the rocket again. Links to the blog and the photos appear in the links section below.
Water Infiltration:
Even when the building over the silo was intact the silo was slowly filling with water. It was already several feet deep. With the building gone this process will accelerate. I don't think the beams of concrete will provide much protection from this, it's not a roof and this has been an incredibly rainy summer in South Florida. So if those beams ever do come off it will likely reveal a silo which has filled completely with water.
Some Buildings Remain, at least for now.
South Florida Water Management who owns the property considers the whole thing an attractive nuisance and would love to make it disappear, even regrade the building pads, lowering them so that it returns to wetlands. Several building have already been demolished but it's expensive and budget constraints make this a slow process. Buildings with a lot of metal may be first to go. They fall down easier and the salvage of the metal defrays part of the cost.
A Few Links
Here is the story I found on the web a few years ago that sparked my interest in this trip
And here is another Web Story with comments, the comments here provided the warning to me that the silo would soon be capped and later provided photos of the cap in place.
If they are still available you can go directly to the cap photos by clicking here: The silo covering, 30 June 2013
There have been several videos made about the site, some very well made, here are two.
This is a short history video about the site including some historical photos and remembrances from people involved back in the day.
And another video showing the site in recent times.
MY VIDEO
My video is not professional at all, I start with some aerial shots from Google Maps and Bing. I must say that Bing Aerial shots far outshine Google Maps in this case, try it. Then I dangling my camera at the end of a string into the Silo. The camera action is a bit seasick as you would expect. After that bit I tagged on a couple short clips of buildings from later that day where the wind gave a creepy alive feeling to the scene. So here is my own simple video.
My Video
And here is a slide show of my photos from that day with all these pictures and many more.
You may know the drill by now. Press F11 to go full screen, Mouse down and click "+" to extend the time between slides.
AeroJet Slide show
On the net use the search terms "Aerojet homestead" for much more.
The GOOD There is a movement to prevent the destruction of this type of site. It is an uphill battle but I wish them luck. Urbexers Against Vandalism |
and the BAD This is depressing and I hesitate to promote it, but here is an example of the wrong attitude some people take toward these sites. Click and scroll down to the entry Postby peanutbuttereggdirt » Tue Jan 17, 2012 9:34 pm back at the AeroJet Dade rocket manufacturing facility! we camped there over night! |
And in case you are wondering, Silo or no Silo, I am absolutely up for another visit if anyone wants to go, contact me.
To and From the Site The story of how I got to and from Ft. Lauderdale to the site using a bicycle and public transportation is taken up in my next posting. It also includes my stay at the Everglades Hostel (Pictured to the left) which is a nice destination in itself. And I include a couple of other interesting stops along the way. CLICK HERE or on the photo FOR THE NEXT PAGE Ft. Lauderdale to the AeroJet by Bike, Train and Bus. |
And Finally correcting a few common misconceptions
The thing in the silo is NOT a missile (as some call it) nor it it even really a rocket, rather it is the body of an experimental rocket engine. It's not complete, the nozzle and other parts would be installed on top during tests (not below as one might imagine) and they are now long gone. What remains is really just a high pressure cylinder. It might be fun to imagine it flying up out of the ground but it was never intended to fly and it's clear from pictures of the tests that if it were to have moved during operation it would have burrowed deeper into the Earth, not flown into space. Even use of the term "silo" (though perhaps technically correct) might be a bit misleading as it calls to mind the flight of missiles.