The United States Air Force showed its colors Wednesday as it officially shut down the Onizuka Air Force Station in Sunnyvale. An official ceremony was held at 9 a.m.
Most people in the South Bay refer to the base as the "Blue Cube" and many of them don't even release that it is a base at all. The location of the large, windowless, square, light-blue building along Highway 101 and 237 in Sunnyvale has long been rumored to house spies of all sorts.
Onizuka is actually a satellite operations facility that has supported every space shuttle mission in history.
The Base Realignment and Closure Commission slated it for closure back in 2005 and that vote becomes reality this week.
There is no real evidence that James Bond-types hung out of course, but it's official duties are spy-like in their description.
Onizuka was home to the 21st Space Operations Squadron. It's mission was to "plan and conduct specialized communications for a wide spectrum of Department of Defense, allied, civil and commercial space systems.The unit also schedules, allocates and configures Air Force Satellite Control Network common user resources; monitors, maintains and updates the status of AFSCN resources; and provides status, configuration and readiness of controlled resources to multiple users and command centers."
It's closure is not a huge job loss for the Bay Area. It will mean a loss of 168 civilian jobs and 10 military slots. Most of those jobs will be transferred to Vandenberg.
