Hangar One May House New Airship
From Mountainview Voice: “NASA Ames deputy director Lew Braxton told a crowd last Thursday that the agency was hard at work on a plan to restore Hangar One within the next 18 months in order to return it to “its original purpose.” “There is a possibility we will have another [airship out here,” Braxton said as he talked about NASA’s plan for Hangar One. The announcement was a revelation to those at the Moffett Field Restoration Advisory Board meeting, some of whom said they’d heard rumors, but no confirmation, that NASA wanted to once more park a huge airship inside the iconic structure. Among other things, it would mean that NASA plans to re-skin the hangar after the Navy strips off its toxic siding.
Earlier that day, the Navy made official its plan to strip the siding off Hangar One and leave the bare skeleton to NASA. Hours later Braxton said that NASA Ames is talking to two prospective tenants to find out who will share the $15 million cost of re-siding Hangar One.
Both companies are in the aeronautics industry, and one is working on a large airship for the U.S. Department of Defense, Braxton said.
“I know there is a lot of concern because we are working behind the scenes,” Braxton said. “We have been in dialogue with headquarters and working with the Pentagon.”
Braxton would not name the airship or the company, but many who heard him speak are now certain that Moffett Field may become the West Coast base for a 500-foot-long Army airship constructed by Lockheed in Akron, Ohio — in Hangar One’s twin structure, the Goodyear Airdock.” Hangar One May House New Airship
