The GDL utilised smokeless (TNT) gunpowder on a non-volatile solvent for solid propellant rockets.

The first test-firing of a solid fuel rocket was carried out in March 1928, which flew for about 1,300 meters[4] In 1931 the world's first successful use of rockets to assist take-off of aircraft were carried out on a U-1, the Soviet designation for an Avro 504 trainer, which achieved about one hundred successful assisted takeoffs.

In these works, the main design contribution was made by GDL employees Nikolai Tikhomirov, Vladimir Artemyev, Boris Petropavlovsky, Georgy Langemak, Ivan Isidorovich and others.

[9][3] This early work by GDL has been steadily carried on and electric rocket engines were used in the 1960s onboard the Voskhod 1 spacecraft and Zond-2 Venus probe.

[2] As a result of experiments, by the end of 1933, a high-boiling fuel from kerosene and nitric acid was selected as the most convenient in operation and industrial production.

[2] A total of 100 bench tests of liquid-propellant rockets were conducted using various types of fuel, both low and high-boiling and thrust up to 300 kg was achieved.

The museum is located in the Peter and Paul Fortress, which in the 1930s housed GDL stands for testing rocket engines.