Cold War artifact reflects China Lake missile legacy
A piece of history from Cold War era and an integral part of China Lake legacy has been revealed in Ridgecrest. On Wednesday morning, the Polaris missile, which until then had been on display at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, has been moved to the China Lake Museum, located on East Las Flores Avenue.
The move is not only the way to protect an important military artifact but also to keep alive the memory of China Lake contribution to developing and testing one of the first submarine-launched ballistic missile systems of the U.S. Navy.
Together with other aircraft, weapons and technology-related artifacts, Polaris is being moved from the naval installation to the public exhibition place of the China Lake Museum at 130 E. Las Flores Ave. The museum gradually is relocating its exhibits from the base as part of long-term efforts to open the region’s military and scientific history to visitors without the need to have access to the base.
For Ridgecrest, this relocation connects two eras: the secrecy of weapon development during the Cold War period and present-day efforts to preserve the history.
Why Polaris matters to China Lake
Though the Polaris missile system is more famous for nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines, China Lake has made a lot of contribution to the Polaris concept formation and development. The former Naval Ordnance Test Station has been involved in various studies connected with the program as well as development and testing of the system. As mentioned by China Lake Museum Foundation, the studies included feasibility studies, concept development, rocket-motor testing, and underwater-launch testing.
One of these efforts was “Pop-Up” underwater-launch testing program, which implied launching the test missiles under the water in order to investigate the process of the transition from submerged launch to powered flight through the atmosphere. Rocket-motor testing was conducted at China Lake too.
At San Clemente Island facility, the Navy tested the system named “Fishhook.” Recovery arrangement was used to recover Polaris test rounds in order to allow the engineers to perform repeated testing of the system while minimizing the damage to the hardware. According to Naval History and Heritage Command, the San Clemente Island tests are a part of China Lake and Pasadena Polaris testing.
All these activities brought China Lake engineers and scientists right into the heart of the most important Navy’s challenge of the late 1950s: creation of a ballistic missile which could be launched from a submarine, travel hundreds of miles to the destination point, all the time remaining submerged.
New type of nuclear deterrent
It should be noted that the Polaris program appeared at the time of fast development of the nuclear arsenals in the United States and the Soviet Union. At that time land-based missiles and strategic bombers were a part of the American nuclear arsenal, but submarines provided an important advantage as they could hide under the water and avoid destruction until they could act.
Polaris provided solution for this idea. The Polaris A-1, a two-staged, solid-fueled ballistic missile which could be launched while the submarine was submerged, has successfully performed its first launch from the submerged USS George Washington on July 20, 1960. In December of the same year, this submarine started the Navy’s first operational Polaris deterrent patrol.
The range of the A-1 missile was about 1,200 nautical miles. With the help of the missile and its submarine launch platform, the Navy got more survivable component of the nation’s strategic nuclear forces which could patrol vast areas of the oceans.
Further development of the Polaris program included A-2 and A-3 models and then transition to Poseidon and later the Trident family of submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Thus, this program laid the basis for technological heritage of the Navy’s sea-based strategic deterrent mission.
China Lake work on Polaris was not the only example of its researches
The Polaris display represents a certain era of weapon development in Mojave Desert. China Lake was founded as the Naval Ordnance Test Station in 1943, during World War II. Its desert location, open areas, good weather conditions, and large areas of controlled airspace made it a perfect place for research and testing rockets, missiles, and aviation weapons.
During the World War II, China Lake staff worked on aerial rockets and participated in Project Camel, which was a secret component of the Manhattan Project dealing with non-nuclear bomb components and shapes. After the war, the facility rapidly expanded its activities to include guided missiles, fire-control systems, torpedoes and other weapons.
Among the best-known technologies of China Lake there are the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile. In addition, this station became famous due to its close connection with the weapons such as Shrike, Walleye, Zuni, Rockeye, and others.
Polaris was different from these weapons because it was not a weapon for aircraft, but rather a strategic system which was used mainly for deterrence purposes. Its presence at the Ridgecrest museum shows the wide scope of projects passed through the laboratories, workshops and test ranges of China Lake.
History of the museum is a long story
Preservation of this technological history has become a long-term project. The China Lake Museum Foundation was established in 1993 as a nonprofit educational organization to support the U.S. Naval Museum of Armament and Technology. Its mission is to preserve and interpret China Lake history and provide educational programs in science and technology.
Navy opened a special museum in China Lake in 2000 after years of preparations. It included the exhibits which traced the weapons development starting from World War II rockets up to the increasingly sophisticated missiles, bombs and guidance technologies developed during the next decades. However, there was one important limitation connected with the location of the museum inside the naval installation, which means that visits to it required base access and created barriers for tourists, school groups and other visitors who wanted to visit the collection.
Eventually the plans of relocating the museum to Ridgecrest appeared. Nowadays the museum is located at 130 E. Las Flores Ave., near China Lake Boulevard, next to the Maturango Museum and opposite the Ridgecrest City Library. As it is located outside of the naval installation, visitors can get here without a base pass.
Expansion allows moving more artifacts off the base
The relocation took place in stages and not in one move. Initially the Ridgecrest facility provided a place for the exhibits while the supporters of the museum tried to find a place for the second phase which will allow to display a larger number of exhibits remaining on the China Lake base.
This goal has been achieved in November 2025, when the ribbon-cutting ceremony took place for the new exhibit hall. After that, the China Lake Museum Foundation has reported that the artifacts will be moved into the expanded building. As March 2026, the museum has announced that additional exhibits will be relocated from the base to the Las Flores Avenue site.
The relocation of the Polaris missile is one of the most noticeable examples of these actions due to the large size of the missile and its historical importance related to China Lake and the Cold War period. Currently the outdoor collection of the museum includes aircraft and weapons connected with decades of Navy research and development, so visitors can see there equipment which was located before behind the secured doors of the base.
Secret projects becoming the history
Many projects conducted at China Lake were initially very technical and closed military programs which were known only to the scientists, engineers, military personnel and contractors working on these projects. However, many years later, these projects became a part of the Ridgecrest history.
It should be noted that the Polaris exhibit presents this transformation very well. The ballistic missile development which was initially an urgent project of the Cold War period has now become the museum artifact which can be seen in Ridgecrest. Also, this relocation allows bringing the history closer to the generations which did not experience either the Cold War period or the rapid weapons development period in China Lake.
For the longtime residents, the Polaris missile can be familiar because of the presence of this missile at the base. For the newcomers and tourists, this relocation provides an opportunity to learn why the remote area of the Mojave Desert became one of the key centers of the naval weapons research.
More than six decades after Polaris was put into service, this missile has acquired a new mission – preservation. It is the reminder of the scientists, engineers, technicians and military personnel who contributed to the development of Cold War technology and Navy.
China Lake Museum visitor information
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Physical and mailing address: China Lake Museum Foundation 130 East Las Flores Ridgecrest, CA 93555