Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center

34.950555555556 - 117.88666666667Koordinaten: 34 ° 57 '2 " N, 117 ° 53' 12 " W

The Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (formerly Dryden Flight Research Center ) is an agency of NASA in the Mojave Desert on the grounds of Edwards Air Force Base, near Lancaster ( California). Here technological innovations are tested and developed in the aircraft industry. The first five NACA engineers met under the leadership of Walt Williams on 30 September 1946, the then- Muroc Army Airfield, now Edwards Air Force Base, one to prepare in the context of cooperation between the U.S. Air Force and the NACA supersonic test flights.

The naming of the NACA station in High - Speed ​​Flight Research Station ( HSFRS ) took place on 14 November 1949. This is the actual anniversary of the founding of today's DFRC. The middle of 1954 the name was then shortened to High - Speed ​​Flight Station ( HSFS ). After the transition of the NACA in the new NASA, the Center was renamed on September 27, 1959 in NASA Flight Research Center. At this time there 340 people were employed. The final name change to Dryden Flight Research Center in honor of longtime NACA Director Hugh L. Dryden was held on 26 March 1976. At this time there 560 people were employed. On January 17, 2014 was renamed the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center, in honor of Neil A. Armstrong, instead of

Other research centers are the NASA Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center and Langley Research Center.

Milestones

  • The test pilot Chalmers Goodlin completed on December 9, 1946, the first rocket-powered test flight of the Bell X -1. Was erected on August 20, 1947 with the D -558 -I Skystreak ( Douglas Aircraft Company ), the first world speed record of 1030.87 km / h. The first supersonic flight could be performed by Chuck Yeager with a Bell XS -1 on 14 October 1947.
  • Beginning of 1962 began the test flights for the paragliders landing program of the Gemini program. After several setbacks get in the final phase of the program, some complete landings. At this time, NASA had, however, already decided for water landings at Gemini.
  • Also, the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle ( LLRV ), known by the nickname " The flying bedstead ", was tested here to prepare the astronauts of the Apollo program to the moon. The test pilot Joe Walker flew the landing gear on October 30, 1964, the first time.
  • On the 65th anniversary day of the flight of the Wright brothers, December 17, 1968 Fitz Fulton and Ted Thal storm reached the last flight of the XB -70 Mach 2.53. It precise data about the sonic boom and the flight dynamics of a large supersonic aircraft were collected.
  • The successful glide and landing tests of the test shuttle Enterprise, which were carried out between January and October 1977 were important milestones on the road to successful deployment of the Space Shuttle NASA. As on April 14, 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia landed on the grounds of the Edwards Air Force Base after its successful maiden flight (STS- 1), and watched from there to 320,000 people. The DFRC had charged 20,000 spectators. From the freely accessible east side again looked to around 300,000 people. The largest public crowd, however, was present at the fourth shuttle landing on July 4, 1982 at watching the nearly 500,000 people. On the DFRC - grounds were once 45,000 guests, including the then U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
  • The spectacular video of a controlled crash a remote controlled Boeing 720 for the demonstration of a new unentzündbaren fuel additive was filmed on December 1, 1984. It attracted worldwide attention because, despite the predictions, the machine burst into flames.
  • The Pegasus - support system was first launched on 5 April 1990 by a B -52 and destroyed a commercial payload into a 515 km high orbit.
  • The last scheduled shuttle landing at DFRC took place on 1 November 1993, when the Columbia touched down at the end of mission STS -58 in front of 35,000 spectators and an additional 5,000 invited guests on the runway of the Salt Lake.
  • The solar plane Pathfinder of the DFRC reached several new world altitude record for solar- powered aircraft in the 1990s. The successor Helios continued in 2001 with a height of 29 524 meters reached a new level.
  • The Boeing X - 43A unmanned supersonic research model with a so-called scramjet propulsion, flew on 16 November 2004 with a speed of Mach 9.8 a new world record.
Lancaster, California National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Neil Armstrong Testpilot Bell X-1 Albert Scott Crossfield Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket Project Gemini Mach number STS-1 STS-4 Controlled Impact Demonstration Pegasus (rocket) STS-58 Goddard Space Flight Center
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