On The Subject Of Space Heritage

As Jim mentions below, it looks like the battle to save the Apollo launch tower has sadly been lost.

But I’ve been wondering about another space heritage site. Does anyone know what the situation is with the old North American plant in Downey, California? It’s been vacant since Rockwell/Boeing moved all of the space operations there to Seal and Huntington Beaches, but it’s got a lot of history (not just Apollo/Shuttle, but going back all the way to the war, when it cranked out warbirds, including the P-51 Mustang, which took off over orange groves and dairies).

In particular I’m wondering what the status or plans are for the little “walk of fame” in front of Building 6, which had several astronauts’ hand and footprints in cement, a la Sid Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Are they still there? Are there plans to move the cement to a safer location? I’d hate to think that it would just get demolished, like any other bit of sidewalk, whenever they decide to use the site for something else. I’m also concerned about the DEI room, with its full-scale half mockup (it’s only got one wing) of a Shuttle orbiter.

A quick search shows that someone else was as well, five years ago. According to this site, the city was supposed to fully acquire the property last year. Plans for commercial development are shown there.

Anyone know the current status? Last time I drove by everything still seemed intact–it was a ghost plant.

[Noon update]

Here’s a site dedicated to preserving our aerospace heritage, describing Downey.

I should add, I don’t know if it’s still there, but one of the original McDonalds’ restaurants was in Downey as well, preserved just like the fifties (it was outdoors).

[Quick Google search]

Yup, as of last year, it was still there. The post claims it’s the world’s oldest (could be–it was the third one built over half a century ago, before Ray Kroc bought the chain). Here’s a picture of it, and some more taken in 2000.

Space Heritage

The editorial page letter below (Florida Today) affirms my view that there is much work to be done in the area of space site and artifact preservation. The fine effort to save the Apollo LUT, while both brave and bold, lacked adequate momentum and money to succeed.

Find ways to preserve more of space history

I applaud a recent letter wake-up call to save our Space Coast heritage before it is all gone with the wind. As the writer said, many launch sites are already dismantled.

Since then, a March 24 FLORIDA TODAY photo on page 1B showed the Apollo launch umbilical tower being disposed.

On the plus side, the letter also mentioned several facilities such as the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center and the Space and Missile Museum at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station that are actively preserving what they can. However, they need help.

Neither the Air Force nor NASA use taxpayer dollars expressly to preserve historical sites and facilities. The Air Force Space and Missile Museum Foundation Inc., a private nonprofit corporation, is authorized to raise money for the Museum. Perhaps their charter could be expanded to include the following launch complexes:

LC-13, the last remaining ICBM service gantry; LC-14, where Mercury Atlas astronauts flew into space; LC- 19, where Gemini-Titan missions were launched; and LC-34, where we lost three astronauts in the Apollo 1 fire.

Anyone wishing to learn more should call the Air Force Space and Missile Museum at 853-9171.

M.J. Martin
Merritt Island ————

Apparently, at least one writer of school history books doesn’t think that space exploration was a notable event of the Cold War era. My 12 year-old son’s 6th-grade US history/civics text does not mention Sputnik/Explorer I or space exploration in the Cold War chapter. The Civil Rights movement of that era receives well-deserved ink in that book, but it is apparent that the author does not feel that James Webb, Alan Shepard, Wernher von Braun, or Neil Armstrong deserve as much mention as say, Rosa Parks. Shameful!

A Breath Of Fresh Air

March 31, 2004

MILWAUKEE (APUPI) Fresh from their victories over smoking in California, New York City, and Ireland, activists in the war for clean public air have opened up the next front, demanding that flatulence be outlawed in restaurants and bars.

“The research results are still coming in, but it’s common sense that second-hand methane is a clear public health hazard,” said Chastity Titeass, a spokeswoman for the most prominent anti-flatulence group.

“Odorless my ass,” chimed in one of the other members of the group, holding her nose, under her breath.

“Despite the unscientific recommendations of the bean and broccoli lobby, it clearly wasn’t sufficient to simply set up farting and no-farting sections in the restaurants. The oppressed waitpersons were almost unable to breath when they had to attend to the customers in the designated flatulence zones.”

In response to this public pressure, the city council passed a new law last week, totally banning flatulence in all Milwaukee public eating and drinking establishments, including the restrooms.

The issue wasn’t confined merely to air quality.

Other concerns were raised to the forefront a couple months ago, in the disastrous explosion at the Guaymas Mexican seafood restaurant on the west side of town, which injured dozens of people. A birthday party had been in progress for hours, with ample helpings of frijoles and Monterey Jack, in the hermetically sealed flatulence area.

When the waitress brought in an octogenarian birthday cake, with the requisite number of candles, it resulted in a sudden explosion. It blew out the walls, and expelled many of the diners out into the alley. Repairs are estimated to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

As a result, the city council decided that a complete ban of enclosed-area emissions was the only solution that would ultimately satisfy public safety concerns.

In a town renowned for its beer and cheese, the new restrictions have hit the bars particularly hard.

“I don’t care what those environmentalist wackos say,” said Joe Peeusky, a local tavern owner for three decades. His business is down by two thirds since the new law has been passed.

“My customers come here to relax. They want to have a brewski, eat some pretzels, let it hang out, relax. Know what I mean? They’re not going to want to go outside when…things happen.”

A patron agrees.

“I know it’s a disgusting habit, but what are you gonna do? I just can’t go that long without it.”

“I’ve been passing gas as long as I can remember. We all did it, ever since we were young. There was a lot of peer pressure when I was a kid–we used to have contests, for decibels and stench, and sometimes, flame length and duration. You get together after school, and the word is, you know, ‘light ’em up.’ Now I’m really hooked.”

He continued, “I tried quitting once. I got really agitated. I was really hard to live with.”

“I also gained a lot of weight. Yeah, I know, you can’t see it on the scales, but I swelled up like the Goodyear blimp on steroids. I just couldn’t kick the habit.”

He’s not alone.

It’s a tragically pitiful and, at the same time, repugnant sight to see groups of customers huddled outside the doors of the city’s bars and restaurants, indulging in their repellent and seemingly unnatural urges. The sounds of their gaseous expellations resonate across the ancient brick fronts of the buildings, and the pungent, almost suffocating aroma slowly drifts down the windless street, a testament to a vile and uncontrollable addiction.

“They don’t have to go through this,” says Ron Blowhardt, the local head of Flatulaholics Anonymous. “A combination of Beano and our twelve-step program can allow them to eat a full meal in a restaurant, without the need to duck outside. The important thing is to acknowledge that you have no power, to submit yourself to a higher authority, which is to say, eensy weensy bacteria in your guts, so small you can barely see them with a microscope.”

In the meantime, Ms. Titeass is excited about the next battles in this new front in the war for public air quality.

“We’re going after the airlines,” she said. “People have to sit in a small confined volume for hours with this. They found out that no smoking sections didn’t work there, and no farting sections won’t either. In fact, I’ll bet that once they see the reduction in maintenance costs on their air filters, they’ll adopt it even without legislation. Sure, people might have to step outside occasionally at thirty-five thousand feet, but that’s their choice. No one’s holding a gun to their head to make them…do this.”

Her ultimate goal?

“I think that it’s outrageous that NASA thinks that astronauts on their way to Mars for many months should have to put up with such disgusting habits. We’ll make sure that they won’t go until they’ve solved the problem. Anyway, from what I hear, there’s already enough methane up there.”

(Copyright 2004, by Rand Simberg)

Who Cut The Cheese?


HEY…DON’T LOOK AT ME…

They seem to have discovered methane on Mars.

I find this much more exciting than water for two reasons. First, while there are abiological means of methane production (e.g., vulcanism), if there’s been any recent (i.e., in the past few hundred years) such activity, this would be the first and only evidence of it, so some form of life is definitely a strong possibility. Water means that life might have once been there. Methane means much more strongly that it might be there now, since it doesn’t persist that long.

It’s also potentially a source of fuel, though it may be too trace to easily collect.

[Hat tip to “cspackler” at Free Republic, from an amusing thread on this topic.]

[Update a couple minutes later]

The best place to go for in-depth and smart blogging on subjects Martian is probably Oliver Morton’s Mainly Martian site. He’s all over this one, and has taken the effort to come up with flatulent cow equivalents. He thinks it’s just a couple thousand for the whole planet.