Found a memorial for the Space Shuttle Columbia in whats left of Onizuka AFB (aka The Blue Cube)

I was biking around Moffett Field today and the back end of my usual route takes me right by the former site of the Onizuka AFB. There really is not much left since they demolished the base, save numerous 4-6 feet foundation pieces they have yet to break up. The Base was the home fo the 21st Space Operations Squadron and provided command and control for space operations and was an NSA site as well.

Today the gate that leads up to where the cube itself sat was open today so I biked on in. way in the back up against a wall and obscured by bushes I found what is left of a memorial to the shuttle astronauts that died on STS-107.

Markers for Brown, Chawla, and Husband were still visible, and 4 missing one were clearly for McCool, Ramon, Anderson and Clark. I'm going to be getting in touch with the Community Collage that now has control over the site and see if we can preserve this or at least relocate it to Moffett Field . It was a really simple memorial, but its worth preserving IMHO.

a reply to: FredT

you should forward to the AF & NASA they have more money and 'face' in these types of cases, cool find.

a reply to: FredT

blue cube back in the day

Why did they level the site? It didnt look that old.

originally posted by: thebozeian
Why did they level the site? It didnt look that old.

Im not sure, but it was decommissioned, and the USAF/NSA may have just wanted it taken down. Based on what I have seen and rumors, it was unsuitable to be re-purposed anyway and they have already built a school and a new VA Clinic on the parts of the site. With real estate prices so crazy, its unlikely this spot will remain underdeveloped for long

a reply to: FredT

They moved the mission to Los Angeles. Apparently there is a similar service there.

The DoD hasn't like this particular location for some time. Commmercial buildings have popped up around it. Some companies can watch landings at KNUQ from their office windows. The Soviets, when they existed, supposedly had spies hang out at the nearby restaurants and bars. Even though the area is well beyond the old cold war 25 mile limit for Soviet "diplomats", there was an additional no spy zone around the Cube. (I was working for EG&G for a while and would hear these stories from contractors.)

Then there was the problem that the Blue Cube was...well...blue. The building didn't exactly hide in plain sight. Prior to shutting it down, Blue Cube security would call the police to remove photographers. This isn't a facility that you have to view from 26 miles from a mountain peak. Rather the cube is in a busy area of Silicon Valley. Any geek, of which the area is full of, would photograph the cube. The police would only show up if the photography was really blatant, such as the case when a teacher from nearby Fremont High decided to make photographing the cube a class project.

From my limited tour of the Blue Cube, it wouldn't be an easy building to repurpose. Lots of secure rooms with bank vault like doors.

I assume all the gear in the building was destroyed. What I saw was really really old, and that was in the 90s.

There was a companion earth station in Dublin Ca. that was not destroyed but rather turned over to UC Berkeley.

companion site