Neil A. Armstrong

Neil A. Armstrong trained for the X-15 aircraft by using the Iron Cross Attitude Simulator at what is cur- rently known as Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, CA.

NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in NACA transitioned to NASA, and he continued to Edwards, California, was named in honor of Neil serve as an engineer, research pilot, astronaut and A. Armstrong, best known as the commander administrator. of NASA's Apollo 11 mission, during which he became the first person to set foot on the moon on As a research pilot, Armstrong participated in July 20, 1969. both piloting and engineering aspects of numer- ous projects, including the X-15 hypersonic Previously known as the Hugh L. Dryden Flight rocket plane. He piloted the first flight of an X-15 Research Center, the center was renamed in 2014 aircraft equipped with a new airflow-direction to reflect Armstrong’s contributions to aeronautics. sensor in its nose, as well as the initial flight of an Armstrong is NASA's premier site for aeronautical X-15 equipped with a self-adaptive flight control flight research. The center also uses airplanes to system. He worked closely with designers and en- conduct airborne environmental and Earth sci- gineers to develop the adaptive system, and made ence; it employs a 747 aircraft with a telescope to seven flights in the rocket plane between De- perform astronomical science missions based out of cember 1960 and July 1962. During those flights its satellite facility in Palmdale, California. he reached a peak altitude of 207,500 feet in the X-15-3, and a speed of 3,989 mph (Mach 5.74) in Neil Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, in Wapako- the X-15-1. neta, Ohio. He served as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952 and joined the National Advisory Com- Armstrong also served as project pilot for research mittee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1955. In 1958 projects flown on the F-100A and F-100C aircraft, F-101, and the F-104A. He was the second pilot to fly the X-1B with an active reaction control system. He also flew the X-5, F-105, F-106, B-47, KC-135, and Paresev.

He was a member of the USAF-NASA Dyna-Soar Pilot Con- sultant Group before the Dyna-Soar project was canceled and studied X-20 Dyna-Soar approaches and abort maneuvers using F-102A and F5D aircraft.

Armstrong transferred to astronaut status in 1962. He was as- signed as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission that launched on March 16, 1966. On that mission, he performed the first suc- cessful docking of two vehicles in space.

As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, Armstrong gained the distinction of being the first man to land a craft on the moon and first to step on its sur- face. A lunar landing training vehicle was tested and modified at the center that is now his namesake; Apollo astronauts used these to prepare for landing on the moon.

Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong poses with a model in hand. Armstrong subsequently held the position of Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. In this position, he coordinated and managed the overall NASA research and technology work related to aeronautics. The Digital Fly-by-Wire control system for aircraft was among the technologies he helped transfer to industry.

He held a professorship of aerospace engineering at the Univer- sity of Cincinnati in Ohio between 1971-1979. During the years 1982-1992, Armstrong was chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc. in Charlottesville, Virginia.

He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineer- ing from Purdue University in 1955 and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California as well as honorary doctorates from a number of universities.

Armstrong was a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Royal Aeronautical Society; Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the International Astronautics Federation. He was decorated by 17 Neil A. Armstrong was an aeronautical research pilot, at what is countries and received numerous special honors. currently known as Armstrong Flight Research Center, before becoming an astronaut. Armstrong participated in both piloting Armstrong passed away, at the age of 82, on Aug. 25, 2012, and engineering aspects of numerous projects, including the following complications resulting from cardiovascular X-15 hypersonic rocket plane. procedures.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Armstrong Flight Research Center P.O. Box 273 Edwards, California 93523

NASA Facts

FS-2018-07-111 AFRC