Armstrong Flight Research Center

Short description: NASA research facility in Southern California

Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center

Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center from the air.
Agency overview
Preceding agencies|

* Dryden Flight Research Center
* Muroc Flight Test Unit
* High-Speed Flight Research Station

Jurisdiction| U.S. federal government
Headquarters| Edwards Air Force Base, California, United States
Agency executive|

* Bradley C. Flick, director

Parent agency| NASA
Website| nasa.gov/armstrong/
The historical logo of then Dryden Flight Research Center (before March 2014).

The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical research.[1] AFRC operates some of the most advanced aircraft in the world and is known for many aviation firsts, including supporting the first crewed airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight (Bell X-1),[2] highest speed by a crewed, powered aircraft (North American X-15),[3][4] the first pure digital fly-by-wire aircraft (F-8 DFBW),[5] and many others. AFRC operated a second site next to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, known as Building 703, once the former Rockwell International/North American Aviation production facility.[6] There, AFRC housed and operated several of NASA's Science Mission Directorate aircraft including SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy), a DC-8 Flying Laboratory, a Gulfstream C-20A UAVSAR and ER-2 High Altitude Platform.[1] In 2024, following the retirements of SOFIA and the DC-8, NASA vacated Building 703, as the continued lease of the large hangar was no longer justified or a prudent use of taxpayer dollars. As of 2023, Bradley Flick is the center's director.[7]

Established as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Muroc Flight Test Unit (1946), the center was subsequently known as the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (1949), the NACA High-Speed Flight Station (1954), the NASA High-Speed Flight Station (1958) and the NASA Flight Research Center (1959). On 26 March 1976, the center was renamed the NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC)[8] after Hugh L. Dryden, a prominent aeronautical engineer who died in office as NASA's deputy administrator in 1965 and Joseph Sweetman Ames, who was an eminent physicist, and served as president of Johns Hopkins University. The facility took its current name on 1 March 2014, honoring Neil Armstrong, a former test pilot at the center and the first human being to walk on the Moon.[9][10]

AFRC was the home of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified Boeing 747 designed to carry a Space Shuttle orbiter back to Kennedy Space Center if one landed at Edwards.

The center long operated the oldest B-52 Stratofortress bomber, a B-52B (dubbed Balls 8 after its tail number, 008) that had been converted to a drop test aircraft. 008 dropped many supersonic test vehicles, from the X-15 to its last research program, the hypersonic X-43A, powered by a Pegasus rocket. Retired in 2004, the aircraft is on display near Edwards' North Gate.[11]

## Contents

* 1 Location
* 2 List of current projects
* 3 Historic projects
* 3.1 Douglas Skyrocket
* 3.2 Controlled Impact Demonstration
* 3.3 Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment
* 3.4 Lunar Landing Research Vehicle
* 4 Aircraft on display
* 5 Gallery
* 6 List of center directors
* 7 Notable employees
* 8 See also
* 9 References
* 10 External links

## Location

Though Armstrong Flight Research Center has always been located on the shore of Rogers Dry Lake, its precise location has changed over the years. It currently resides on the northwestern edge of the lake bed, just south of North Gate. Visitors must obtain access to both Edwards AFB and NASA AFRC.

The Rogers Dry Lake bed offers a unique landscape for flight research, namely dry conditions, few rainy days per year, and large, flat, and open spaces in which emergency landings can be performed. At times, the bed can host a runway length of over 40,000 feet. It is home to a compass rose that measures 5,200 feet across, and where aircraft can land into the wind in any direction.

## List of current projects

* X-59 QueSST
* X-66 Sustainable Flight Demonstrator
* UAS in the NAS
* TGALS

## Historic projects

### Douglas Skyrocket

A Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket being dropped from a B-29 Superfortress.

NASA's predecessor, NACA, operated the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket. A successor to the Bell X-1, the D-558-2 could operate under rocket or jet power. It conducted extensive tests into aircraft stability in the transsonic range, optimal supersonic wing configurations, rocket plume effects, and high-speed flight dynamics. On November 20, 1953, the Douglas Skyrocket became the first aircraft to fly at over twice the speed of sound when it attained a speed of Mach 2.005. Like the X-1, the D-558-2 could be air-launched using a B-29 Superfortress. Unlike the X-1, the Skyrocket could also takeoff from a runway with the help of JATO units.

### Controlled Impact Demonstration

Main article: Engineering:Controlled Impact Demonstration

A remotely piloted Boeing 720 is destroyed in the Controlled Impact Demonstration.

The Controlled Impact Demonstration was a joint project with the Federal Aviation Administration to research a new jet fuel that would decrease the damage due to fire in the crash of a large airliner. On 1 December 1984, a remotely piloted Boeing 720 aircraft was flown into specially built wing openers which tore the wings open, fuel spraying everywhere. Despite the new fuel additive, the resulting fireball was huge; the fire still took an hour to fully extinguish.

Even though the fuel additive did not prevent a fire, it still prevented the combustion of some fuel which flowed over the fuselage of the aircraft, and served to cool it, similar to how a conventional rocket engine cools its nozzle. Also, instrumented crash test dummies were in the airplane for the impact, and provided valuable research into other aspects of crash survivability for the occupants.

### Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment

Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment

Main article: Astronomy:Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment

LASRE was a NASA experiment in cooperation with Lockheed Martin to study a reusable launch vehicle design based on a linear aerospike rocket engine. The experiment's goal was to provide in-flight data to help Lockheed Martin validate the computational predictive tools they developed to design the craft. LASRE was a small, half-span model of a lifting body with eight thrust cells of an aerospike engine. The experiment, mounted on the back of an SR-71 Blackbird aircraft, operated like a kind of "flying wind tunnel."

The experiment focused on determining how a reusable launch vehicle's engine plume would affect the aerodynamics of its lifting-body shape at specific altitudes and speeds reaching approximately 340 m/s (760 mph). The interaction of the aerodynamic flow with the engine plume could create drag; design refinements look to minimize that interaction.

### Lunar Landing Research Vehicle

Main article: Engineering:Lunar Landing Research Vehicle

The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle.

The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle or LLRV was an Apollo Project era program to build a simulator for the Moon landing. The LLRVs, humorously referred to as "Flying Bedsteads," were used by the FRC, now known as the Armstrong Flight Research Center, at Edwards Air Force Base, California, to study and analyze piloting techniques needed to fly and land the Apollo Lunar Module in the moon's airless environment.

## Aircraft on display

* NB-52B Balls 8 NASA 008
* Bell X-1E AF Ser. No. 46-063
* F-104N - NASA 826
* F-8 Supercritical wing - NASA 810
* F-8 Digital Fly-by-wire \- NASA 802
* F-15B ACTIVE - NASA 837
* Grumman X-29 - NASA 849
* Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird LASRE - NASA 844
* Northrop HL-10 Lifting Body - NASA 804
* Rockwell HiMAT

## Gallery

* These aircraft in Dryden's NACA hangar show the some of the research activities being undertaken in the 1950s

* The Dryden Flight Research Center's fleet of aircraft in 1997

* The satellite image of Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Edwards compass rose

* F-16-based VISTA multifunctional testbed aircraft (former NF-16D and now X-62A) in 2019 under a new paint scheme

## List of center directors

The following persons have served as the Armstrong Flight Research Center director:[12][13]

No. | Image  | Director  | Start  | End  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

1  | 70px  | Walter C. Williams | September 30, 1946  | Fall 1949  | Supervisor, NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit
Fall 1949  | July 1, 1954  | Supervisor, NACA High Speed Flight Research Station
July 1, 1954  | September 15, 1959  | Director, NACA High Speed Flight Station[14]
2  | 70px  | Paul F. Bikle  | September 15, 1959  | May 31, 1971  | [15]
Acting  | 78px  | De E. Beeler | June 1, 1971  | October 11, 1971  | [16]
3  | 70px  | Lee R. Scherer  | October 11, 1971  | January 19, 1975  | [17]
4  | 70px  | David R. Scott  | April 18, 1975  | October 30, 1977  | [18]
Acting  |  | Isaac T. Gillam  | October 30, 1977  | June 18, 1978  |
5  | June 18, 1978  | October 1, 1981  | [19]
6  | 70px  | John A. Manke | October 1, 1981  | April 27, 1984  | Director of Flight Operations[20]
7  | 70px  | Martin Knutson  | May 1984  | December 2, 1990  | Director of Flight Operations and Site Director[21]
8  | 76px  | Kenneth J. Szalai | December 3, 1990  | March 1, 1994  | Facility Director
March 1, 1994  | July 31, 1998  | [22]
Acting  | 70px  | Kevin L. Petersen | August 1, 1998  | February 7, 1999  |
9  | February 8, 1999  | April 3, 2009  | [23]
Acting  | 70px  | David D. McBride | April 4, 2009  | January 3, 2010  |
10  | January 4, 2010  | December 4, 2022  | [24]
11  | 70px  | Bradley Flick | December 5, 2022  | March 19, 2026  | [25]

## Notable employees

* Neil Armstrong
* Marta Bohn-Meyer
* Bill Dana
* C. Gordon Fullerton
* David Hedgley
* Bruce Peterson
* R. Dale Reed
* David Scott
* Milt Thompson
* J. Scott Howell
* Kenneth W. Iliff (d)
* Cameron J. Hartsfield

## See also

* Gromov Flight Research Institute \- the Russia counterpart of the Armstrong Flight Research Centre
* List of aerospace flight test centres

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Conner, Monroe (2015-02-19). "Building 703 Facilities Overview" (in en). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/bldg_703/overview.html.
2. ↑ Gibbs, Yvonne (2015-08-12). "NASA Armstrong Fact Sheet: First Generation X-1" (in en). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-085-DFRC.html.
3. ↑ "Aerospaceweb.org | Aircraft Museum - X-15". http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/research/x15/.
4. ↑ Gibbs, Yvonne (2015-08-13). "NASA Armstrong Fact Sheet: X-15 Hypersonic Research Program" (in en). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-052-DFRC.html.
5. ↑ Gibbs, Yvonne (2017-05-10). "F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire" (in en). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/history/pastprojects/F8/index.html.
6. ↑ Conner, Monroe (2015-02-19). "Building 703 in Palmdale" (in en). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/bldg_703/index.html.
7. ↑ Bardan, Roxana (2022-12-05). "NASA Administrator Names New Leadership at Two Agency Centers". http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-administrator-names-new-leadership-at-two-agency-centers.
8. ↑ "What's In a Name". NASA. 2014-02-27. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/Features/whats_in_a_name.html.
9. ↑ "NASA Center Renamed in Honor of Neil A. Armstrong". NASA. April 9, 2015. http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-center-renamed-for-neil-armstrong/.
10. ↑ "NASA Honors Astronaut Neil Armstrong with Center Renaming". NASA Press Release 14-061. 28 February 2014. http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/february/nasa-honors-astronaut-neil-armstrong-with-center-renaming/.
11. ↑ Google Earth imagery date 26 August 2012, at  [ ⚑ ] 34°59′34″N 117°53′00″W﻿ / ﻿34.99278°N 117.8833333°W﻿ / 34.99278; -117.8833333
12. ↑ "Former NASA Armstrong Center Directors". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/armstrong/people/former-center-directors/.
13. ↑ "Personnel". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/history/historic-personnel/#centers.
14. ↑ "Walter C. Williams". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/walter-c-williams/.
15. ↑ "Paul F. Bikle". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/paul-f-bikle/.
16. ↑ "De E. Beeler". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/de-e-beeler/.
17. ↑ "Lee R. Scherer". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/lee-r-scherer-2/.
18. ↑ "Dr. David R. Scott". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/dr-david-r-scott/.
19. ↑ "Isaac T. Gillam IV". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/isaac-t-gillam-iv/.
20. ↑ "John A. Manke". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/john-a-manke/.
21. ↑ "Martin A. Knutson". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/martin-a-knutson/.
22. ↑ "Kenneth J. Szalai". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/kenneth-j-szalai/.
23. ↑ "Kevin L. Petersen". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/kevin-l-petersen/.
24. ↑ "David D. McBride". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/david-d-mcbride/.
25. ↑ "Bradley C. Flick". NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/people/bradley-c-flick/.

## External links

* X-Press official newsletter
* Photo Collection for NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
* The Spoken Word: Recollections of Dryden History, the Early Years, edited by Curtis Peebles
* Flight Research: Problems Encountered and What They Should Teach Us by Milton O. Thompson—The early days of the DFRC

* v
* t
* e

NASA

Policy and history|

| History|

* NACA (1915)
* National Aeronautics and Space Act (1958)
* Space Task Group (1958)
* Paine (1986)
* Rogers (1986)
* Ride (1987)
* Space Exploration Initiative (1989)
* Augustine (1990)
* U.S. National Space Policy (1996)
* CFUSAI (2002)
* CAIB (2003)
* Vision for Space Exploration (2004)
* Aldridge (2004)
* Augustine (2009)

|

General|

* Space Race
* Administrator and Deputy Administrator
* Chief Scientist
* Astronaut Corps
* Ranks and positions
* Chief
* Budget
* Spin-off technologies
* NASA TV
* NASA Social
* Launch Services Program
* Mercury Control Center
* Kennedy Space Center
* Vehicle Assembly Building
* Launch Complex 39
* Launch Control Center
* Operations and Checkout Building
* Johnson Space Center
* Mission Control
* Lunar Sample Laboratory

Robotic programs|

| Past|

* Hitchhiker
* Mariner
* Mariner Mark II
* MESUR
* Mars Surveyor '98
* New Millennium
* Lunar Orbiter
* Pioneer
* Planetary Observer
* Ranger
* Surveyor
* Viking
* Project Prometheus
* Mars Scout
* Mars Exploration Rover

|

Current|

* Living With a Star
* Lunar Precursor Robotic Program
* Earth Observing System
* Great Observatories program
* Explorer
* Small explorer
* Voyager
* Discovery
* New Frontiers
* Solar Terrestrial Probes
* Commercial Lunar Payload Services

Human spaceflight
programs|

| Past|

* X-15 (suborbital)
* Mercury
* Gemini
* Apollo
* Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (with the Soviet space program)
* Skylab
* Space Shuttle
* Shuttle–Mir (with Roscosmos State Corporation)
* Constellation

|

Current|

* International Space Station
* Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
* Commercial Crew Development
* Orion
* Artemis
* Lunar Gateway

Individual featured
missions
(human and robotic)|

| Past|

* COBE
* Mercury 3
* Mercury-Atlas 6
* Magellan
* Pioneer 10
* Pioneer 11
* Galileo
* GALEX
* GRAIL
* WMAP
* Space Shuttle
* Sojourner rover
* Spirit rover
* LADEE
* MESSENGER
* Aquarius
* Cassini
* Dawn
* Kepler space telescope
* Opportunity rover
* RHESSI
* observed

|

Currently
operating|

* Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
* 2001 Mars Odyssey
* New Horizons
* International Space Station
* Hubble Space Telescope
* Spitzer
* Swift
* THEMIS
* Mars Exploration Rover
* Curiosity rover
* timeline
* InSight
* GOES 14
* Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
* GOES 15
* Van Allen Probes
* Solar Dynamics Observatory
* Juno
* Mars Science Laboratory
* timeline
* NuSTAR
* Voyager 1
* Voyager 2
* WISE
* MAVEN
* MMS
* OSIRIS-REx
* Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

Future|

* Joint Polar Satellite System
* James Webb Space Telescope
* Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope
* Mars 2020
* NISAR
* Europa Clipper

Communications
and navigation|

* Near Earth Network
* Space Network
* Deep Space Network (Goldstone
* Madrid
* Canberra
* Space Flight Operations Facility)
* Deep Space Atomic Clock

NASA lists|

* Astronauts
* by name
* by year
* Gemini astronauts
* Apollo astronauts
* List of NASA aircraft
* List of NASA missions
* uncrewed missions
* List of NASA contractors
* List of United States rockets
* List of NASA cancellations
* List of Space Shuttle missions
* crews
* List of NASA cameras on spacecraft

NASA images
and artwork|

* Earthrise
* The Blue Marble
* Family Portrait
* Pale Blue Dot
* Pillars of Creation
* Mystic Mountain
* Solar System Family Portrait
* The Day the Earth Smiled
* Fallen Astronaut
* Lunar plaques
* Pioneer plaques
* Voyager Golden Record
* Apollo 11 goodwill messages
* NASA insignia
* Gemini and Apollo medallions
* Mission patches

Related|

* Apollo 15 postal covers incident
* Space Mirror Memorial
* The Astronaut Monument
* U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
* Space program on U.S. stamps
* Apollo 17 Moon mice
* Other primates in space
* NASA spinoff technologies

* Category

* v
* t
* e

NASA facilities

NASA Headquarters

Primary 10 centers|

| Space flight|

* Goddard Space Flight Center
* Jet Propulsion Laboratory
* Johnson Space Center
* Mission Control
* Lunar Sample Laboratory
* Kennedy Space Center
* Vehicle Assembly Building
* Launch Complex 39
* Launch Control Center
* Central Instrumentation Facility
* Shuttle Landing Facility
* Operations and Checkout Building
* Marshall Space Flight Center
* Stennis Space Center

|

Research|

* Ames Research Center
* Armstrong Flight Research Center
* Glenn Research Center
* Langley Research Center
* Space Task Group

Other facilities|

* Carnarvon Tracking Station
* Deep Space Network
* Goldstone
* Madrid
* Canberra
* Space Flight Operations
* Goddard Institute for Space Studies
* Independent Verification and Validation Facility
* Michoud Assembly Facility
* Santa Susana Field Laboratory
* Scientific Balloon Flight Facility
* Wallops Flight Facility
* White Sands Test Facility

Related|

* Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

[ ⚑ ]  34°57′07″N 117°53′08″W﻿ / ﻿34.95194°N 117.88556°W﻿ / 34.95194; -117.88556

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong Flight Research Center. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Organization:Armstrong_Flight_Research_Center&oldid=4336633"
*[No.]: Number
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template