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In May 1967, a 23-foot mirror was lifted into place in JPL's 25-foot Space Simulator. The mirror was designed to reflect light from thirty-seven high intensity xenon arc lamps down into the test area of the chamber, to simulate the intense solar radiation encountered by spacecraft outside Earth's atmosphere. The Space Simulator was featured in the April 1999 Historical Photo of the Month page.

The mirror had been delivered to JPL on a large slow-moving truck, with two vehicles trailing behind it side-by-side, both displaying "Wide Load" signs. The truck inched up the hill to the building which housed the 25-foot Space Simulator, the mirror was carefully unloaded, then lifted into place over a period of several days.

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