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MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – Hundreds of people today helped NASA Ames Research Center celebrate the 75th anniversary of Moffett Field and the historic return of the airship to Moffett Field.
The ceremony included remarks from retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. William Moffett III, grandson of U.S. Navy Adm. Moffett, music by the Air National Guard jazz band and free exhibits, including vintage costumes and cars. Onlookers cheered as Airship Ventures Chief Executive Officer Alex Hall named and dedicated "Eureka" – a 246-foot-long Zeppelin airship – with a champagne salute. The airship will be based at the airfield and used for aerial tours and scientific research in the Bay Area.
The airship’s arrival at Moffett Field comes at a celebrated time in the airfield’s history. In 1933, the United States Government commissioned Sunnyvale Naval Air Station, which was later renamed Naval Air Station Moffett Field. The station’s original mission was to serve as a home base for the Navy dirigible, the USS Macon, as part of the Navy’s lighter-than-air aviation program. Later, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics established what would eventually become NASA Ames Research Center, adjacent to the naval air station.
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