Surplus Property Disposal

Depending on whom you believe, an important part of this country's space exploration history is either in the Smithsonian Institution or decaying in the hot sun in a Palmdale landfill. Space shuttle builder Rockwell International says it sent a set of shuttle engine mock-ups--huge nozzles used in the test program for the Enterprise, the first orbiter built--to the dump more than a decade ago.

Depending on whom you believe, an important part of this country's space exploration history is either in the Smithsonian Institution or decaying in the hot sun in a Palmdale landfill. Space shuttle builder Rockwell International says it sent a set of shuttle engine mock-ups--huge nozzles used in the test program for the Enterprise, the first orbiter built--to the dump more than a decade ago.

Depending on whom you believe, an important part of this country's space exploration history is either in the Smithsonian Institution or decaying in the hot sun in a Palmdale landfill. Space shuttle builder Rockwell International says that more than a decade ago it sent to the dump a set of shuttle engine mock-ups that were used as part of the test program for the Enterprise--the first orbiter ever built.

Depending on whom you believe, an important part of this country's space exploration history is either in the Smithsonian Institution or decaying in the hot sun in a Palmdale landfill. Space shuttle builder Rockwell International says that more than a decade ago it sent to the dump a set of shuttle engine mock-ups that were used as part of the test program for the Enterprise--the first orbiter ever built.

The place played a quiet but key role in World War II, the Korean War and the Cold War. Fighting didn't reach Cheli Air Force Station southeast of downtown Los Angeles until after the last of its stockpiles of equipment and its squadrons of airmen departed its front gates, however. For more than 40 years, the military depot in Bell has been the focus of a tug-of-war between those clamoring to own pieces of its valuable land next to Atlantic Boulevard and the Long Beach Freeway.