Rocketdyne
The Rocketdyne Division was founded by North American Aviation (NAA) in 1955, and was later part of Rockwell International (1967-1996) and Boeing (1996-2005). In 2005, the Rocketdyne Division was sold to United Technologies Corporation, becoming Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne as part of Pratt & Whitney. In 2013, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne was sold to GenCorp, which merged it with Aerojet to form Aerojet Rocketdyne.
Rocketdyne J-2
Inspiration for the J-2 dates back to various NASA studies conducted in the late 1950s, of LH2-fuelled engines producing thrust of up to following the success of the RL-10 used on the Atlas-Centaur's Centaur upper stage. As ever-heavier launch vehicles entered consideration, NASA began to look at engines producing thrusts of up to , with development being officially authorized following the 1959 report of the Saturn Vehicle Evaluation Committee. A source evaluation board was formed to nominate a contractor from five bidding companies, and approval was given on 1 June 1960 for Rocketdyne to begin development of a "high-energy rocket engine, fuelled by LOX and hydrogen, to be known as the J-2". The final contract, awarded in September 1960, was the first to explicitly require the design "insure maximum safety for manned flight."