Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Aerojet 260: The Largest Solid Rocket Motor Ever Tested
In the 1960s, Aerojet, under NASA contract, developed and static-tested the Aerojet 260, the largest solid rocket motor ever built. Measuring 260 inches (6.6 meters) in diameter and over 24 meters long, it was designed as a potential booster for the Saturn Rocket.
Two test motors were loaded with 1.68 million pounds of propellant and fired vertically from an underground silo near the Florida Everglades. The motor produced over 5 million pounds of thrust and 3.47 billion pound-seconds of total impulse, with flames visible from 80 miles away during a night test.
Though never flown, the 260 demonstrated the viability of massive solid rockets producing nearly 100 times the thrust of a Minuteman III second stage and remains the most powerful solid rocket motor ever tested.
Aerojet 260: The Largest Solid Rocket Motor Ever Tested
In the 1960s, Aerojet, under NASA contract, developed and static-tested the Aerojet 260, the largest solid rocket motor ever built. Measuring 260 inches (6.6 meters) in diameter and over 24 meters long, it was designed as a potential booster for the Saturn Rocket.
Two test motors were loaded with 1.68 million pounds of propellant and fired vertically from an underground silo near the Florida Everglades. The motor produced over 5 million pounds of thrust and 3.47 billion pound-seconds of total impulse, with flames visible from 80 miles away during a night test.
Though never flown, the 260 demonstrated the viability of massive solid rockets producing nearly 100 times the thrust of a Minuteman III second stage and remains the most powerful solid rocket motor ever tested.
