China Lake, Sep. 25, 1998

by Lynn Kissel, LUNAR #009

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Photo. Tour gathering outside the main gate to the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake. (photo by Rocky Harris)

It was brought to my attention by an e-mail message. A tour was being organized of rocket propellant and production facilities at the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake. It was a long car trip, but the Kissel's had just bought a new minivan and I was feeling like a road trip. Besides I might never have another opportunity to visit a place like China Lake, a restricted government test range founded in 1943 for test and evaluation of rockets being developed for the Navy by CalTech. The place is COLOSSAL, covering about 1700 square miles of the upper Mojave Desert, about 150 miles north of Los Angeles.

We saw some pretty incredible facilities on our tour; gigantic propellant casting pits capable of preparing 5-foot diameter, 30-foot long rocket motors; a large variety of propellant mixing facilities wherein explosive propellant components are mixed while being monitored from a remote control room. The largest of these facilities could prepare one ton of propellant at a time! We were not allowed to bring cameras into the facility so I got no photos, only some snaps by the main gate to the base.

I'm left with a strong and melancholy feeling from this tour, and I've seen it at facilities all across this country and around the world. Right now a generation of Cold-War scientists, engineers and technicians are quietly retiring, taking with them a wealth of information and experience. As the work was done behind closed doors, most people are unaware of what's being lost. I don't want a return to the Cold War, but I wish we could save the knowledge.

Information date: November 14, 1998 lk