A technician makes a final instrumentation adjustment in preparation for a test run of a new plasma space engine at Republic Aviation Corporation. Taken September 1961 in Farmingdale.
Republic Aviation Corporation was an aircraft manufacturer based in Farmingdale, originally known as the Seversky Aircraft Company. Republic was responsible for the design and production of many important military aircraft.
According to a New York Times report from 1961, the engine, known as a pinch plasma engine, would be used for interplanetary propulsion.