Rocket Man

 

This image is from a Jan. 7, 2021 article in Saratoga Today by Paul Perreault, who was our speaker on Thursday. Paul, the recently retired Malta town historian, talked about the Malta Test Station, founded in 1945 by the US Army and General Electric Co. on land leased from the Luther family. The site, still standing with many empty buildings and other structures in the Luther Forest Technology Campus, is now located next to the GlobalFoundries computer chip plant, and across Rocket Way from town-owned sports recreation fields.

Rocket engines were tested in Malta, developing technology derived from the V2 missile used by the Germans near the end of World War II. Many German scientists who worked on the V2 project, including Wernher von Braun, were brought to the United States to help develop ballistic missiles and, later, rockets used for space exploration.