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Twenty-Five Foot Space Simulator

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. 18 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1894.

From the record

“The Twenty-Five-Foot Space Simulator is a chamber for testing spacecraft in space-like conditions, including extreme cold, high radiation, and near-vacuum pressure. Built in 1961, it is located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.”

Wikipedia article Twenty-Five-Foot Space Simulator, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 616 National Register listings published here for Los Angeles County · listed in 1985 · category: Structure · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, 91011
  • When was it listed? October 1985
  • Category. structure
  • Census division. Pasadena
  • National Register reference number. 85002812 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1894 to 1995

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Twenty-Five Foot Space Simulator, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet covering Twenty-Five Foot Space Simulator, surveyed 1894

Fires near this property

264 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 264 fires within 5 miles of Twenty-Five Foot Space Simulator between 1992 and 2020, burning about 160,854 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 38 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined76
Equipment and vehicle use69
Arson/incendiarism38
Recreation and ceremony29
Debris and open burning13
Smoking10
Power generation/transmission/distribution10
Fireworks8
Natural6
Misuse of fire by a minor5

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 2008Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAngeles National ForestCHANEY
7 September 2004Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreAngeles National ForestSTRATUS
5 September 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreAngeles National ForestMILE
5 September 2004Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreAngeles National ForestSUNSHINE
4 September 2002Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreAngeles National ForestELLIOT
30 September 1995Arson/incendiarism7.0 acresAngeles National ForestCHANEY
3 September 2001Debris and open burningunder an acreAngeles National ForestTWIN
3 September 2001Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreAngeles National ForestOCEAN

Every fire recorded in Los Angeles County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 13 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Twenty-Five Foot Space Simulator: 5 past producers, 3 occurrences, 3 producers, 2 prospects. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Graphite, Granite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
ManzanitaMolybdenum, CopperOccurrence
Ross DepositGraniteOccurrence
Verdugo Canyon DepositGraphiteProspect
DawnGoldPast Producer
LorisGoldOccurrence
Mallery #2GoldProspect
Browns Canyon PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Devil S GateSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Devils Canyon DamSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Gordon-Garrison-RussellSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Los Angeles County

Storms near this property

3 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pasadena, the town this property stands in, in 3 storm reports between 2004 and 2024: 1 lightning, 1 hail, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2024Flash FloodPasadena-California Highway Patrol reported flash flooding of Highway 210 at the Lake Avenue onramp. Officers reported 6 to 12 inches of standing water on the onramp.
October 2005HailPasadena-A severe thunderstorm produced large hail in the valleys of Los Angeles county. Near Pasadena, one and one quarter inch diameter hail was reported by a weather spotter.
February 2004LightningSouth Pasadena-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Los Angeles County

Maps showing this location

18 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Space Flight Operations Facility0.1 miles1985
Thomas, Franklin Rosborough "Frank", House1.5 miles2015
Scripps Hall1.8 miles1999
Lanterman House1.9 miles1994
Zane Grey Estate2.0 miles2002
Villa Carlotta2.0 miles2014

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 85002812 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Los Angeles CountyAll 616 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.