NASA is considering a $33 million offer by the top three executives at Google Inc. to salvage the historic Hangar One at Moffett Field in California, once home to giant U.S. Navy airships, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
Google Chief Executive Larry Page, co-founder Sergey Brin and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt proposed paying the full cost of revamping the landmark hangar, under the condition that they could use up to two-thirds of the floor space to house their fleet of eight private jets, operated by Google-owned H211 LLC.
Ken Ambrose, director of operations for H211, said the offer had a positive reception from officials at NASA Ames Research Center, which owns Hangar One and Moffett Field, but no response from the space agency’s administrators in Washington. Supporters of the Hangar One restoration are eager for an answer because the Navy is in the process of removing the old, contaminated skin from the hangar, and without a covering, its frame and foundation will be exposed to the elements. “A decision should have been made by now,” Ambrose said. “It’s quarter to midnight as far as I can see.”
