A Rare Glimpse of NASA’s Otherworldly Treasures

January 13, 2016 10:08 PM

HOUSTON, Tex.—Building 31 on the campus of Johnson Space Center lacks the Tower of London’s majesty and history. No Queen’s Guard stand outside. But this drab, 1960s-era building is nonetheless where NASA keeps the crown jewels of its exploration program. Inside various clean rooms, curators watch over meteorites from Mars and the asteroid belt, cosmic dust, samples of the solar wind, comet particles, and, of course, hundreds of kilograms of Moon rocks.
posted by veedubya (17 comments total)

Great find, thanks.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:26 PM on January 13, 2016

An amusing bit from the image captions: A final view from inside the vault: the Apollo 11 cabinet. We didn't get inside of it to hold any rocks, but Buzz Aldrin did on his visit to the lab. For the record, we're OK with that.
posted by Harald74 at 11:39 PM on January 13, 2016

I am seriously considering crossing the pond for a Mefi Meetup at that place.
posted by ouke at 2:00 AM on January 14, 2016

But no authentic Shuttle.
posted by Beholder at 3:50 AM on January 14, 2016

It says "Houston" but it's not in Houston, 30-45 minute drive south depending on traffic. Maybe halfway to Galveston from downtown Houston.

I haven't been in decades, maybe 35 years? Long time ago, '77 or '78 maybe (??) Having read what I've just read, there has been considerable change since I last laid eyes on it. Also, having read what I've just read, I want to go back. I believe it'd be a great time.

As others upthread have noted, this is a great find. Thx for posting, OP.
posted by dancestoblue at 4:06 AM on January 14, 2016

Talking of NASA, I saw this on tumblr today and was hoping to be able to share it with Mefi:

Margaret Hamilton.... NASA coder

[via]
posted by marienbad at 4:54 AM on January 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

samples of the solar wind

My knowledge of the solar wind is pretty much at the level of a Deep Space Nine writer, but.... really? HOW?
How do they do that?

I asked the googles and they used wafers.
posted by Mezentian at 4:58 AM on January 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

It says "Houston" but it's not in Houston

Not to be picky, but I believe it is, technically. The city borders have mysterious ways. But yes, it's naturally a bit of a drive from downtown.

I love this place so much. Seeing the immense Saturn V rocket gave me the chills.
posted by Salieri at 5:26 AM on January 14, 2016

Talking of NASA, I saw this on tumblr today and was hoping to be able to share it with Mefi:


There was a FPP about her and her work! Great stuff!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:45 AM on January 14, 2016

I am seriously considering crossing the pond for a Mefi Meetup at that place.

I don't think this part of the facility is generally open for tours. We would need some specially-placed Mefite to grant us access.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:13 AM on January 14, 2016

My trip across the pond to see the Cape was a real "why did I wait so long?" experience. Baikonur is taking a bit longer to pull off... but if there was a MeFi day at the Houston facility, I'd do my damndest to get there.

Rather surreally, there was Apollo project hardware on Antiques Roadshow last weekend - some computer PCBs from ground systems and the first stage of the Saturn V.
posted by Devonian at 6:23 AM on January 14, 2016

I did not like reading, "...about 15 percent are kept in a backup vault at White Sands in New Mexico. Sure, Johnson Space Center is secure, and this facility is on the second floor. But the space center is just across the street from Clear Lake, which drains into Galveston Bay, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s conceivable a Category 5 hurricane could destroy this facility." Maybe a lot more meteorites, stardust and moon rocks should be moved to New Mexico.
posted by narancia at 8:03 AM on January 14, 2016

If the good stuff is on the second floor, it's a reasonably low probability event that a storm surge would get that high. It's not below sea level like New Orleans, and power outages shouldn't be an issue, given the valuable stuff is in sealed boxes filled with nitrogen.
posted by wierdo at 8:27 AM on January 14, 2016

Wow! My dad worked in this building for ...decades while I was growing up. I recognize all this stuff! Being a little kid, and therefore able to get into places without a badge, meant that I've seen many of these labs (and recognize damn near everyone in this story).

The questions I can answer:
1) Clear Lake is part of Houston, yes. It got annexed in the early '80s; before that, it was Clear Lake City.
2) No meetups are going to be happening. Pre-9-11, it was a lot earlier to get in for a tour. The atmosphere at JSC has really changed since then.
3) Aerogel is really cool stuff. So is liquid nitrogen, especially when you're a little kid.
4) I believe the bottom floor has had a tiny bit of flooding once or twice, possibly during TS Allison.

I know some other things I don't know if I am allowed to say, but rest assured, Building 31 is the shit. Sending this thread to my dad, maybe he'll have something else interesting to add.
posted by fiercecupcake at 8:41 AM on January 14, 2016 [7 favorites]

That view is wrong, Righter said.

I bet he says that a lot. That's, like, his whole deal.
posted by Galaxor Nebulon at 9:46 AM on January 14, 2016

Awww, it's awesome to see Eric Berger (the author of this piece) linked on MetaFiliter. He was the weather columnist at the Houston Chronicle until he quit a couple of months back to take the job at Ars. He's a fun 'voice' to read. If you're a Houstonian looking for level-headed weather forecasts, he now runs the Space City Weather blog.

For anyone looking at a meet up at JSC, you can certainly go on a tour of Space Center Houston. I've done it...twice now and I just saw Randall Munroe of xkcd fame speak there in December. The public tour portion is run by a third party company and JSC itself is sadly diminished since its glory days but it's still pretty cool. Want to see Mission Control (as in, 'Houston, we have a problem')? You can briefly do that. The buildings in this tour are definitely special-access only. You--also me--might want to make friends with fiercecupcake's dad.
posted by librarylis at 2:45 PM on January 14, 2016

The tours are different depending on the day though, so call ahead. I went a few days ago actually and the only tour I could go on was the Saturn V which is cool, but I would have loved to see historic mission control.
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:04 PM on January 14, 2016