Cool Places in America~Jackass Flats and Nuclear Rocket?

I thought my parents got a contract to develop some software for area 51. I was hoping to meet some aliens, not some idiot who would strap a rocket to his car and not keep it flush. Darwin Awards...

Area 25 is the site of the now decommissioned Nuclear Rocket Development Station (NRDS). It was built in support of Project Rover to test prototype nuclear rocket engines. Jackass Flats was proposed as a possible launch site for Project Orion, administered by General Atomics in the late 1950s.

Project Orion was a study of a spacecraft intended to be directly propelled by a series of explosions of atomic bombs behind the craft (nuclear pulse propulsion). Early versions of this vehicle were proposed to take off from the ground with significant associated nuclear fallout; later versions were presented for use only in space.

Well 4th of July was coming up when we visited. I figured if I rode by bike through the area I would not have to buy any glow sticks that year...

~Tyler


To find out more about Tyler visit Salem House Press and buy Tyler's latest book "Tyler Moves to Gibsonton Florida" on Amazon.com. Keep checking back often for great cheap vacation ideas that might end up surprising you and becoming the best vacation you ever had!