The stripping down of Moffett Field Hangar One is nearly complete. The 79-year-old hangar’s walls and roof contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), asbestos and lead paint. In 2003 NASA determined that the hangar was leaking PCBs into storm drains and a nearby storm-water basin. While NASA now owns Hangar One, its former owner the Navy is responsible for cleaning it up. The biggest scaffolding job in the history of the West Coast has required months of planning, coordinating subcontractors to safely remove and dispose of Hangar One’s toxic skin, Navy contractors say.
This photo shows Moffett Field Hanger One at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California, on Friday, Dec. 21, 2007. Navy veterans were fighting their former employer to preserve one of the oldest symbols of technology in California’s Silicon Valley. Moffett Field’s Hangar One was built in 1932 to house the USS Macon, a helium-filled airship slightly smaller than the Hindenburg, that crashed in 1935. The hangar, 198 feet high and big enough to hold 10 American football fields, is a familiar sight on Highway 101 that runs through Silicon Valley. The building is leaking carcinogens and may be too expensive to save.
Photographer: Erin Lubin/Bloomberg News
Top Photo: Scaffolding is set up inside the north end of Hangar One at Moffett Field in Mountain View on Wednesday, June 6, 2012. (Kirstina Sangsahachart/ Daily News)