Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This is a Plug Nozzle, a unique rocket engine made in 1960 by the General Electric Company. This engine is the first flight weight model produced by G.E. and developed 50,000 lbs of thrust. In conventional liquid fuel rocket engines, the combustion and expansion of gases take place in an inverted cone-like thrust chamber. In the plug nozzle, the propellants are ignited in a ring of small segmented chambers around the outside base of a large conical "plug."

As the gases exit at supersonic speeds, they are self-adjusting. This results in greatly increased efficiency of the engine in its low altitude ascent. However, NASA did not choose to adopt this radical approach to propulsion. The nozzle was donated to the Smithsonian in 1976 by the Wright-Malta Corp.

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type PROPULSION-Rocket Engines Manufacturer General Electric Company
 Dimensions Overall: 48 × 50 in., 657.7kg (121.9 × 127cm, 1450lb.)
 Materials Overall, steel, with partial ceramic coating over cone; broken plastic covering over at least one of the pipes around the red base of the nozzle.
 Inventory Number A19760049000 Credit Line Gift of Wright-Malta Corporation Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.