SPACEPHOTOS

This is a view of the huge dirigible hangar with doors open at both ends at the NASA Ames Reserach Center, Moffett Field, California. Lockheed Missiles and Space Company under contract to the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center was to use the hangar for construction and assembly of the nation's first nuclear stage rocket engine. Airplanes are on the ground at right, and in the background is San Francisco Bay. The ready-made 'factory' structure was erected in 1931- 1933, to house the dirigible Macon, which crashed off the California coast in 1935. It has been used by the Navy for blimps and aircraft. The floor area 1,138 feet by 308 feet, covers over eight acres or enough to hold seven football fields. The height of the hangar is 198 feet, ample for the company to erect the RIET (Reactor-In-Flight Test) stage in an upright position. The program was eventually canceled.