Former Rockwell Corporation Seal Beach Site, California

These buildings on the edge of the Seal Beach Weapons Station in Orange County originally belonged to the Rockwell Corporation, until Boeing purchased most of Rockwell in 1996, rechristening the facility as the Boeing Space and Communications Group. At the time of the purchase, Rockwell was a highly diversified, high technology company, with 82,000 employees and over $11 billion in annual sales, and 168 plants and R&D facilities world wide. Rockwell was the builder of the B1-B bomber, and its subsidiary Rocketdyne was a leader in rocket propulsion design. The Seal Beach location was the site of several major Rockwell space and defense programs, including the airborne laser weapon system and space shuttle components. Huge high bay engineering buildings, still visible across the street from the headquarters, were used for the Space Shuttle's development.