These meteor strike test plates may have been used on NASA missions, or they may have been surplus - but now they can be had for free by a group or organization that wants to make some sort of educational use for them. (Courtesy NASA / HANDOUT)
Imagine if NASA Langley Research Center had a rummage sale and all of the items were free.
In reality, it’s not Langley — it’s the mother of all motherships, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. And it’s a little more complicated than haggling on the price and driving away with your find.
But the availability of NASA artifacts — for free — through the U.S. General Services Administration’s GSAXcess program is remarkable nonetheless.
It first caught the public’s fancy last summer, when a story hit the wires that a Saturn 1 Block 1 Booster portion of a Saturn rocket stack up — basically, the hulking gizmo that supplied the thrust to NASA’s rockets in the early 1960s — was free to a good home.
You had to be able to show that you represented an educational group with the capacity to put the artifact on display, and you had to be able to cover transportation expenses, which would be about $250,000. NASA would pack it up, no fee.
This summer, NASA was offering this booster portion of a Saturn rocket for free to a school, museum or organization that could use it for educational purposes - and that could pay $250,000 to transport it. - Original Credit: Courtesy NASA - Original Source: handout (Courtesy NASA / HANDOUT)
The rocket booster was on the high end, of course, but the attention from that story drew a large number of space buffs, curiosity seekers and online rabbit hole excavators to gsaxcess.gov/NASAWel.htm, the website for the section of the GSAXcess site dedicated to NASA artifacts. Yes, the ones that are available for free.
“There are two ways to look at it,” says Lauren Katz, the exhibits and artifacts program manager at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. “NASA has artifacts to share with the world that are truly amazing and could be in museums or classrooms. But also, anything the belongs to NASA is government property, and there are all types of property that are no longer needed, and in government, when property no longer has a use for an agency, it becomes excess property.”
The excess property becomes available to people. There are warehouses in Washington where people can seek out, for example, excess office furniture. And in the same way, there are NASA artifacts taking up space (no pun intended) that must be made available.
“And because it’s NASA,” Katz said, “much of it is fascinating. The value is not necessarily monetary, but in the function these items can serve.”
The NASA items can only be accessed online, and they are available only to museums, schools, libraries and universities, or people representing them — a teacher who wants authentic items to display in a classroom setting, for example.
The items may be small hardware for a rocket or a capsule. They could be gloves or blankets designed for use by astronauts. It could be dehydrated food sent up for a smorgasbord in space. In most cases it is unclear whether the items being offered actually traveled in space or whether they were surplus that never got off the ground — but everything is authentic and was specifically designed for use on missions.
These dehydrated foods may have been come back as leftovers from a space mission, or they may have been surplus - but now they can be had for free by a group or organization that wants to make some sort of educational use for them. - Original Credit: Courtesy NASA - Original Source: handout (Courtesy NASA / HANDOUT)
Mostly it’s small hardware, equipment, materials from uniforms, etc.
Katz says the GSA makes an effort to distribute the artifacts evenly to organizations that apply for them, trying to let as many people as possible help educate others about NASA.
And what about that Saturn rocket booster? Who claimed it and came up with the funding to move it?
After some brief research, Katz said it was claimed and transported by a museum that has not yet announced the acquisition.
What is available? All sorts of NASA artifacts of all sizes. Mostly its small hardware, equipment, materials from uniforms, etc.
Is it really free? Yep, but you’ve got to pay for shipping. For most items, that comes to $20-$40
Who can get it? Schools, museums, libraries, universities, educators — organizations in a position to use the artifacts for educational purposes.
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