White Room relocation a ‘success’

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CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. (AFPN) --  The historic Complex 19 White Room here was successfully relocated to its new home in the outdoor Rocket Garden at the nearby Air Force Space and Missile Museum.

The White Room is a 56-foot-tall, 46-ton structure that was used by Gemini astronauts during missions in the mid-1960s. The room, also known as a “clean room,” was a climate/humidity-controlled sterile area where payload processing occurred. During the manned Gemini launches, it was in this White Room that the space capsule was attached to the Titan II rocket and where the astronauts entered the capsule.

During the move to the museum, the structure was lifted by two 165-ton cranes and placed on two self-propelled low-profile crawlers, which transported the room 1,800 linear feet.

The move took approximately three hours from the time the hoist hooks were placed on the structure to the time it was bolted into its new location.

“We hope the White Room renovation will generate even more interest in the Air Force Space and Missile Museum,” said Emily Perry, museum director. “We plan to have an official ribbon cutting when the interior refurbishing is complete, and we hope to have some of the Gemini astronauts join us for the ceremony.”

The purpose for the move was to relocate the structure from the restoration area where it has been undergoing renovation for the past five years to the outdoor Rocket Garden at the museum to allow for public viewing.