posted 08-10-2008 06:43 PM               

Since it came about in the 1930s as NASA's rocket research lab, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been a part of just about every major unmanned U.S. space mission to date. JPL also has a somewhat surprising history of running major missions out of modular trailers scattered around their Pasadena HQ, which are packed with all of the stuff you need to, oh, I don't know, monitor a spacecraft on its way to Mars. Photographer Richard Harrington stumbled upon one of these trailers, abandoned on a dusty lot somewhere between L.A. and Las Vegas, which as you would expect is retro space-tech dream inside.

posted 08-11-2008 09:01 AM               

This story is completely misleading. I have been in this trailer myself. It is on the grounds of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, operated by the California Institute of Technology. It is used to control a small radio antenna nearby, and is NOT abandoned. The poster could not have obtained these photos without trespassing on the grounds of the Observatory, whose entrance is clearly posted with a sign saying "Authorized Personnel Only". I have forwarded this weblink to the appropriate officials at Caltech for them to pursue any action they deem appropriate.

Dr, Karl Stapelfeldt
Astrophysics Section
NASA / JPL / Caltech

posted 08-11-2008 12:10 PM               

Cheers,