A Scrubbed Launch at Forrestal

I may have been one of the last students to use the rocket test cells at Forrestal. For my senior independent work in the MAE department, I designed and built a gaseous oxygen-hydrogen rocket engine. My adviser, professor Irv Glassman, directed me to use one of the remaining cells at Forrestal for testing. My guess is that he had not actually visited the site in many years, as in the winter/spring of 1987 I found the area long abandoned and overgrown with plants and debris. It took me several weeks to clean up one cell for use. In the end, and after I had mounted my rocket engine to a test structure and installed its supporting equipment and systems, I was told by the University to cease work while they reviewed their insurance and liability. I never got to test fire my rocket engine; I was told another student was interested in picking up where I left off, but I never heard if this ever happened.