Mountain View to become Bear Territory
History Happening Now
Mountain View to become Bear Territory
By Nick Perry MVHA Past President
The Big Game is still weeks away , but the California Golden Bears are already advancing into arch-rival Stanford ’ s territory . On October 16 , the University of California , Berkeley announced a new partnership with the NASA Ames Research Center and SKS Partners that will result in the construction of the “ Berkeley Space Center ” at Moffett Field in Mountain View .
According to the press release issued by the University of California , the Berkeley Space Center will accommodate up to 1.4 million square feet of research space on 36 acres of land at Moffett Field on land leased from NASA . The new buildings will house state-of-the-art research and development laboratories for companies and UC Berkeley researchers and classrooms for Cal students . The first buildings at the Berkeley Space Center are expected to be ready as soon as 2027 .
The development of the Berkeley Space Center is yet another step in the historic evolution of Moffett Field . The land where Moffett Field is now located was once known as Rancho Posolmi , the ranch of Lope Inigo , one of the few native Ohlone to be granted a rancho by the Mexican government . Over the course of his life , Inigo sold portions of his rancho and lost other portions of it to squatters . By the early 20th Century the rancho was subdivided into a number of large ranches where farmers grew broccoli , cauliflower , and hay .
During the Great Depression , cities throughout the Bay Area worked together on a campaign to beat San Diego as the site of the US Navy ’ s new lighter-than-air program and airbase . Fundraising efforts led to the purchase of the former Rancho Posolmi lands , which were then sold to the Navy for $ 1 for
ABOVE : Conceptual rendering of the proposed Berkeley Space Center ( gray buildings to right the historic Hangar One ) at Moffett Field in Mountain View . Image Source : Field Operations and HOK
the construction of the base . Originally , the base was to be named Mountain View-Sunnyvale Naval Air Station ( NAS ) but “ Mountain View ” was dropped from the name over concerns Washington DC-based officials unfamiliar with the Santa Clara Valley ’ s pastoral geography would be wary of setting up an airship base in a mountain region . The primary purpose of the base was to serve as the west coast home of the Navy ’ s dirigible program . The massive Hangar One was built to house the USS Macon dirigible . Just days before the base opened in 1933 , the USS Macon ’ s sister ship the USS Akron crashed into the Atlantic ocean . Two years later , the USS Macon suffered the same fate when it crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Big Sur . After the loss of the USS Macon , the Navy ended its lighter-than-air program and transferred Moffett Field to the Army Air Corps which used it as a training center for cadets .
In 1940 , the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics ( precursor to NASA ) opened the Ames Research Center at the base . At the onset of World War II , the base was transferred back to the Navy and rechristened NAS Moffett Field , in honor of Rear Admiral William Moffett who died in the crash of the USS Akron . During the subsequent decades Moffett Field grew to become the Navy ’ s largest air transport base on the west coast . In July 1994 , the airfield was closed and Moffett Field was transferred from the Navy to the NASA Ames Research Center . Since then , NASA has worked to redevelop Moffett Field ’ s historic Navy-era military campus area into a research and development park . This new partnership with UC Berkeley builds off existing partnerships with Google ( currently restoring Hangar One ) and Carnegie Mellon University . If all goes according to plan , come 2027 , Mountain View will become part of “ Bear Territory ” as Cal students and researches affiliated with the Berkeley campus head south and begin making their mark on the long history of Moffett Field .
( Writer ’ s note : Sorry , Stanford fans ... yes , I am biased . Go Bears !)
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