MALTA >> Anyone who saw the movie “The Right Stuff” may have been fascinated by the origins of United States space exploration. What may be overlooked is the role the town played in that legacy.
“The race to the moon began right here in Malta,” town historian Paul Perreault said.
Perrault recently gave a presentation on the Malta Rocket Test Site, which is located in Luther Forest and owned by Luther Forest Technology Campus Economic Development Corp., the owner and developer of Luther Forest Technology Campus.
The story is incredible and filled with intrigue and hints of espionage, Perrault said.
According to Perrault, General Electric scientists in Schenectady were selected by the U.S. Army in the 1940s and sent over to Europe when German rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun and his team were captured. The scientists secured documents and rocket parts and brought them back to the United States. The Germans were sent to White Sands, N.M., where rocket testing was initially occurring.
Perrault said he thought the Malta site, which was for stationary testing of rocketry, was selected because of its proximity to Schenectady and at the time had more than 7,000 acres of forest preserve.
“Very few people lived in it and it could be secured,” Perrault said, “which in fact they did, to keep other people out.”
The original facility included underground and above-ground bunkers, two gantries and a number of lab buildings. There were checkpoints with armed guards and clearance was required to gain entrance. Many buildings remain and in surprisingly good shape, Perrault said, although somewhat obscured by vegetation.
Perrault said testing started in 1947. Testing was conducted on rocket fuel and rocket engines. The objective was to increase the amount of thrust from the engines. These tests were performed in a stationary state.
“They didn’t have to send the rockets up into space to test the fuel or figure out the thrust,” he said. “They could do both of those simply by housing the rocket and making scientific calculations. They never launched rockets because where would they have gone, downtown Saratoga?”
These tests were conducted until the early 1960s, when GE started phasing out of the rocket business, Perrault said. However, the site continued to test rocket fuel and heat-resistant materials until the late 1960s.
“At some point, GE decided to get out of the business entirely and they sold the facility to a corporation of former employees, the Wright Malta Corporation,” the town historian said.
Named after Eugene Wright, who was heading the facility at the time, Wright Malta Corp. continued to operate on the facilities into the 1990s. They got contracts from the U.S. Army to test artillery shells and tanks. They were testing the escape of gas from the cannons. A controversial experiment was the burning of PCBs, in order to produce electricity.
“Obviously, that didn’t go any place, or we wouldn’t be dredging the Hudson right now,” Perrault said.
He said he was interested in the history of the rocket test site because of the national significance of the site and the intrigue of the Cold War.
“They not only worked on rockets, but on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM),” he said. “There was the whole ‘Cold War’ mindset.”
Perrault said one thing he has never been able to confirm was whether the Malta test site was a target for Soviet Union spying.
“You think they would be very interested in knowing what was going on here,” he said. “They certainly were out in White Sands. I don’t know if there were any agents here or if they were able to infiltrate.”
Perrault said he hopes to have the site declared a national historical site, even though it is privately owned. He wants people to know the significance of the test site because it was where the first liquid-fueled rocket engines were tested.
“I realize it’s on private property and it’s the owners’ decision, but I do believe it’s of national historical significance and I would like to see it included on the national registry,” he said.