**Timeline1946 - 19551956 - 19651966 - 19751976 - 19851986 - 19951996 - 20052006 - 20152016 - 2021

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# **Milestones in NASA Armstrong’s History**

Since September 30, 1946, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, has celebrated many achievements. Listed below are important events that have laid the groundwork for the center’s current programs and future endeavors.

# **1946 - 2021**

#### **1946 - 1955****

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##### **Sept. 30, 1946:**Thirteen National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) employees arrived at Muroc Army Airfield in preparation for flights of the Bell X-1-2 (tail number 6063) rocket-powered research aircraft

###### Five NACA engineers, headed by Walt Williams, arrived at Muroc Army Airfield (now Edwards Air Force Base in California) about this date from Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Virginia, to prepare for X-1 supersonic research flights in the joint NACA-Army Air Forces program. This was the first NACA presence established at the Mojave Desert site. (Note: Some sources report the arrival of 13 individuals on Sept. 30, but an early chronology shows only the original five, with a total of 13 NACA people not present at Muroc until December.)***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Sept. 7, 1947:**NACA’s Muroc Flight Test Unit in Edwards, California, officially established as a permanent facility

###### Initially a satellite of the NACA’s Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit received permanent status from  Hugh L. Dryden, the NACA’s director of Research, with Walt Williams as chief.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Oct. 14, 1947:**First supersonic flight with Capt. Charles "Chuck" Yeager in the Bell X-1; the NACA, a partner from the start, instrumented the aircraft and reduced the data

###### As a result of the X-1’s supersonic flight, the National Aviation Association awarded it the 1948 Collier Trophy, to be shared by the three main participants in the program. Honored at the White House by President Harry S. Truman were Lawrence “Larry” Bell for Bell Aircraft, Capt. Charles “Chuck” Yeager for piloting the flights, and John Stack of NACA for the NACA contributions.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **March 10, 1948:**Herbert Hoover first civilian to go supersonic

###### The Bell Aircraft Corporation X-1-3 is pictured with two of the NACA pilots that flew it, Robert Champine, left, and Herbert Hoover. Champine made 13 flights in the X-1, plus nine in the D-558-I and 12 in the D-558-II. Hoover made 14 flights in the X-1. On March 10, 1948, Hoover reached Mach 1.065, becoming the first NACA (civilian) pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **May 3, 1948:**D-558-I transonic research airplane crash, killing Howard “Tick” Lilly

###### The Douglas D-558-I No. 2 Skystreak (the “Crimson Test tube” until it was repainted white) is pictured with test pilot Eugene May (Douglas Aircraft Company), left, and the NACA research pilot Howard Lilly. On May 3, 1948, Lilly took off and retracted the landing gear when the engine compressor suddenly broke apart. Fragments severed the airplane’s control cables and Lilly could not escape (there was no ejection seat) before the D-558-I crashed. One of the roads into what is now NASA Armstrong is named for Lilly, the first NACA research pilot killed in the line of duty.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 14, 1949:**NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit renamed the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station, becoming an independently managed NACA facility

###### A 1953 photo of some of the research aircraft at the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station. At the center is the X-3, and clockwise from left are the X-1A, the third D-558-I, XF-92A, X-5, D-558-II, and X-4.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 6, 1951:**Chuck Yeager flew the X-1 for the motion picture “Jet Pilot”

###### Chuck Yeager standing next the X-1 research plane that broke the sound barrier Oct. 14, 1947. Today the aircraft hangs in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington.***Credits: U.S. Air Force Test Center History Office***

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##### **June 20, 1951:**First flight of the X-5 research aircraft, which was built to test the feasibility of changing the sweep angle of an aircraft's wings in flight

###### This NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station photograph of the Bell X-5 was taken at Edwards Air Force Base in the mid 1950s. The photograph shows the aircraft in flight with the wings swept back.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **July 27, 1951:**Bell test pilot Jean “Skip” Ziegler first changed the X-5's wing sweep in flight

###### This NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station photograph of the X-5 was taken at the South Base on Edwards Air Force Base. The multiple exposure illustrates the X-5’s variable swept wing capability. It was the first aircraft whose wing sweep could be so adjusted in flight, something ideal for high-speed flight.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 20, 1953:**D-558-II transonic research aircraft first to reach and exceed Mach 2

###### On Nov. 20, 1953, Scott Crossfield piloted the rocket-powered D-558-2 Skyrocket to Mach 2.005, the first person to fly twice the speed of sound. Among the preparations for the flight, the team cold soaked the water/alcohol propellant mixture, enabling them to add another 15 gallons of propellant for a slightly longer burn. The picture shows Crossfield being interviewed by camera news crews. Because news media were not invited to the record attempt, this was done for their benefit after the fact.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **July 1, 1954:**NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station was renamed the NACA High-Speed Flight Station

###### Personnel of the NACA High-Speed Flight Station gathered for a group photo in front of the station’s new headquarters, Building 4800, on Aug. 12, 1954. The station and its complement of about 250 personnel had moved just six weeks earlier from cramped quarters in a small hangar at what is now South Base at Edwards Air Force Base, to its new facility just north of the new main base, on the edge of Rogers Dry Lake. The new complex consisted of a central office building and two adjoining hangars, along with a few appurtenant structures. This became the nucleus of today’s NASA Armstrong.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Oct. 27, 1954:**Flying the X-3 “Stiletto,” NACA pilot Joe Walker is the first to experience inertia coupling

###### This in-flight NACA photograph of the Douglas Aircraft Company X-3 Stiletto illustrates the aircraft’s long, slender fuselage and its stubby wings. The X-3 was a single-place, jet-powered research aircraft. Its primary mission was to investigate the design features of an aircraft suitable for sustained supersonic speeds, which included the first use of titanium honeycomb in major airframe components. But, as Walker found out, the X-3 suffered inertia coupling issues during abrupt, high-speed, roll, and pitch up maneuvers. Inertia coupling (in 0.5 second the aircraft [and pilot] experienced -6.7/+7 g) can lead to violent gyrations around all three axes. With its onset, it is almost impossible to recover. These are the forces Walker experienced Oct. 27, 1954, which led to a new research program by the NACA to understand and find solutions to inertia coupling. The airplane was grounded for 11 months.***Credits: NASA***

#### **1956 - 1965****

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##### **1956 - 1959:**NASA Langley began JF-102A research flights

###### The Convair JF-102A is shown on the ramp in 1956 at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station in California. The most prominent new feature distinguishing the JF-102A from the YF-102 was a longer fuselage with a pinched or “coke-bottle” waist. The modified F-102A aircraft also included the first application of the "area rule principle" developed at the NACA by Richard Whitcomb.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Sept. 27, 1956:**Flying the X-2, Milburn “Mel” Apt became the first person to fly faster than three times the speed of sound

###### U.S. Air Force pilots Capts. Milburn “Mel” Apt, left, and Iven Kincheloe flank Col. Horace Hanes, Air Force Flight Test Center flight test director, beside the X-2 rocket-powered, swept-wing research aircraft in 1956. Making the Air Force’s last scheduled flight in the aircraft, Apt reached a record Mach 3.196 (2,094 mph). As he turned back toward the base, he experienced inertial coupling, causing the X-2 to tumble uncontrollably. Apt jettisoned the escape capsule but was unable to extract himself before it struck the ground.***Credits: U.S. Air Force***

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##### **Oct. 8, 1957:**Joseph Walker flew the X-1E research aircraft to Mach 2.24, its top speed

###### Joe Walker is shown suited up next to the X-1E at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station in California. The dice and “Little Joe” were prominently displayed under the cockpit area. (Little Joe is a dice player’s slang for two deuces.) Walker is shown wearing an early partial-pressure suit, which protected the pilot if cockpit depressurized above 50,000 feet altitude.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 27, 1957:**First demonstration flight test of the Reaction Control System using the X-1B

###### The Bell Aircraft Corporation X-1B rocket-powered research aircraft, one of the growth versions of the original X-1 series, is shown on Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to the NACA High-Speed Flight Station. The X-1B was the first testbed for a Reaction Control System (RCS) – small thrusters used to stabilize or redirect a vehicle in a near vacuum. The system was intended for the X-15. In November 1957, NACA research pilot Neil A. Armstrong made three flights in the X-1B to validate the RCS. Cracks in the propellant tanks grounded the airplane in 1958, so the RCS was shifted to a pre-production Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Jan. 31, 1958:**Explorer 1, the first satellite launched by the United States

###### Explorer 1, the United States’ satellite contribution to the International Geophysical Year (July 1, 1957, to Dec. 31, 1958), lifting off. The project was a collaboration of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California; and Dr. James van Allen of the University of Iowa. The launch rocket was a modified Jupiter-C, known as a Juno-1.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Oct. 1, 1958:**The NACA transitioned to NASA, which mandated a simple name change to the NASA High-Speed Flight Station

###### The NACA transformed into NASA on Oct. 1, 1958, in response to the Soviet’s launch of Sputniks 1 and 2. President Dwight D. Eisenhower commissioned Dr. T. Keith Glennan, right, as the first administrator for NASA and Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, left, as deputy administrator.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 6, 1958:**Last flight of the X-1E

###### John "Jack" McKay made last flight in the X-1E, the final model flown of the X-1 series. It is now a gatekeeper in front of NASA Armstrong.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **June 8, 1959:**NB-52B heavy-lift airborne launch aircraft air-launched the X-15 hypersonic research rocket on its first unpowered glide flight piloted by Scott Crossfield

###### A technician makes final preparations as Scott Crossfield sits in the cockpit of the X-15 rocket plane. Crossfield and the X-15 were suspended beneath the right wing of a B-52 and carried to 45,000 feet for the first flight, June 8, 1959. This began nearly a decade of flight research probing hypersonic flight and altitudes at the edge of space.***Credits: North American Aviation***

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##### **Sept. 17, 1959:**First powered flight of the X-15

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##### **Sept. 27, 1959:**NASA High-Speed Flight Station name amended to the NASA Flight Research Center, elevating the facility to full center status

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##### **March 26, 1960:**Joseph Walker flew first NASA flight in an X-15

###### Research pilot Joseph Walker flew the first NASA flight in a North American X-15 rocket aircraft. He reached Mach 2 at 48,630 feet altitude. It was the ninth flight of the program; the preceding eight flights had been flown by Scott Crossfield for North American Aviation as part of the acceptance process. He wears the new, full-pressure suit that completed sealed in the occupant.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **March 7, 1961:**X-15 first aircraft to exceed Mach 4, with Robert “Bob” White at the controls

###### U.S. Air Force Major Bob White was among the first group of pilots selected for the X-15. He was one of several Air Force pilots in the joint program, along with NASA, the Navy, and North American Aviation. Between April 13, 1960, and Dec. 14, 1962, White made 16 flights in the rocket-powered aircraft. He was the first pilot to fly to Mach 4, 5, and 6 (4, 5, and 6 times the speed of sound). He reached 314,750 feet altitude on July 17, 1962, setting a world altitude record. For reaching at least 50 miles altitude (the Air Force definition for the start of space), White received astronaut wings, the first of eight X-15 pilots to do so***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 24, 1961:**Filming began at the center for the motion picture “X-15,” starring James Gregory, Charles Bronson, and Mary Tyler Moore (Milton Thompson served as a technical advisor)

###### ******

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##### **June 23, 1961:**X-15 first aircraft to exceed Mach 5, with Bob White at the controls

###### ******

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##### **Oct. 11, 1961:**X-15 first aircraft to flight above 200,000 feet altitude, with Bob White at the controls

###### ******

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##### **Nov. 9, 1961**First X-15 flight to Mach 6, with Bob White at the controls

###### On Bob White’s flight to Mach 6, the canopy glass on the right side crazed during re-entry. The problem was uneven heating rates of window frame and window. It happened several times.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 20, 1962:**Neil Armstrong completed longest flight in X-15 (12 minutes, 28 seconds); it was an accident

###### Neil Armstrong was actively engaged in piloting and engineering aspects of the X-15 program from its inception. He completed the first flight in the aircraft equipped with a new flow-direction sensor (ball nose) and the initial flight in the X-15 equipped with the MH-96 adaptive flight control computer. He made seven flights in the rocket plane between December 1960 until July 1962. 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 the X-15-1. He only became an astronaut when he flew on Gemini 8.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **July 17, 1962:**Bob White first to take the X-15 to 300,000 feet (space for the U.S.)

###### ******

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##### **Sept. 12, 1962:**President John F. Kennedy gave “Moon” speech before a Joint Session of Congress

###### President John F. Kennedy addressed a crowd at Rice University’s stadium in Houston reaffirming his support for America’s space program, including landing a man on the Moon.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 9, 1962:**Jack McKay experienced an engine failure while flying the X-15 and landed at Mud Lake, Nevada

###### An engine failure forced NASA X-15 research pilot Jack McKay to make an emergency landing at Mud Lake, Nevada. Because he could not jettison his propellants in time, the aircraft was too heavy on touchdown, causing the landing gear to collapse and the X-15 to flip over on its back. Despite realizing the aircraft was rolling over and jettisoning the canopy because of that, McKay survived; although, he suffered two crushed vertebrae. The aircraft was sent back to the manufacturer, where it underwent extensive repairs and modifications. It returned to Edwards in February 1964 as the X-15A No. 2, with a longer fuselage and external propellant tanks. McKay returned to flight status six weeks later.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 12, 1962:**The Los Angeles Times dubbed the M2-F1 wingless body concept the “flying bathtub”

###### The M2-F1 lifting body under aerial tow at the NASA Flight Research Center. The aircraft was the first in a family of lifting bodies designed to validate the concept of flying home from space to a landing at an airport instead of splashing down in an ocean.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Feb. 26, 1963:**M2-F1 completes wind tunnel testing

###### Wind tunnel testing of the M2-F1 was done at NASA Ames in preparation for car tows and free flights at NASA Flight Research Center. Sailplane designer Gus Briegleb built the wood shell of the M2-F1, while the steel sub frame was built at the center.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **March 1, 1963:**First ground tow of M2-F1 lifting body research vehicle

###### ******

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##### **April 5, 1963:**Milton Thompson lifted the M2-F1's nose off of the ground for the first time using a ground tow from a souped-up a Pontiac Catalina convertible

###### Using center funds, Walter “Whitey” Whiteside bought a 1963 Pontiac Catalina to tow the M2-F1 lifting body research vehicle for initial tests near the ground. After extensive modification at two race shops, the Pontiac could tow the 1,000-pound M2-F1 at speeds of up to 110 mph on the dry lakebed at Edwards.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Aug. 16, 1963:**First NASA C-47 air-tow flight of the M2-F1 (pilot Milton Thompson)

###### The M2-F1 Lifting Body being towed behind a C-47 at the NASA Flight Research Center (now Armstrong) in this Feb. 28, 1964, photo. The M2-F1 is flying above and to one side of the C-47, which was done to avoid wake turbulence from the towplane. Lacking wings, the M2-F1 used an unusual configuration for its control surfaces. It had two rudders on the fins, two elevons (called "elephant ears") mounted on the outsides of the fins, and two body flaps on the upper rear fuselage.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Aug. 22, 1963:**Joseph Walker reached 354,200 feet altitude in the X-15

###### Joe Walker reached 354,200 feet in X-15 No. 3, the highest altitude in the X-15 (unofficial world altitude record). He was the first person to visit space more than once, doing          it three times. He left the X-15 program after this flight and was assigned to the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) program.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 16, 1964:**Bell Aircraft delivered Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) No. 1 to NASA Flight Research Center (now Armstrong)

###### The LLRV was used to study piloting techniques needed to fly and land the Apollo Lunar Module in the Moon’s airless environment. Apollo astronauts then trained in three LLTVs (training vehicle) for the landing on the Moon.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Sept. 1, 1964:**First flight of the XB-70 supersonic research aircraft

###### The XB-70A, capable of flying three times the speed of sound, was the world's largest aircraft in the 1960s. Two XB-70A aircraft were built. After the loss of Ship 2 during a mid-air collision with an F-104 (killing Joe Walker and U.S. Air Force Maj. Carl Cross), NASA flew Ship 1 in a high-speed flight research program.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Oct. 30, 1964:**Joseph Walker first flight of LLRV, world’s first pure fly-by-wire aircraft (analog)

###### At 8:13 a.m., NASA Flight Research Center (now Armstrong) Chief Pilot Joe Walker gently lifted off for the first flight in the LLRV. Conceived simultaneously but independently by engineers at the center and at Bell Aircraft Company, and built by the latter, the follow-on LLTV (training vehicle) was to be used to train the Apollo astronauts for a landing on the Moon.***Credits: NASA***

#### **1966 - 1975****

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##### **April 5, 1966:**Tail flutter tests in a Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche (pilot Fred Haise)

###### During the flight, the horizontal tail surfaces fluttered so dramatically that after the flight Fred Haise said, “I’m fearless, but that scares me.” On April 13, 1970, Apollo 13 experienced an oxygen tank explosion that forced the planned Moon landing to be abandoned. Haise was intended to pilot the lunar module. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **July 12, 1966:**First glide flight of the M2-F2 heavy lifting body research vehicle

###### The first flight of the M2-F2 – manned rated No. 2, flight vehicle No. 2 – version – was piloted by Milt Thompson. By then, the same B-52 used to air launch the famed X-15 rocket research aircraft was modified to also carry the lifting bodies. Piloting the M2-F2, Thompson was dropped from the B-52's wing pylon mount at an altitude of 45,000 feet on that maiden glide flight. The M2-F2 weighed 4,620 pounds, was 22 feet long, and had a width of about 10 feet. Perhaps more compelling than dimensions and weight is lift-to-drag ratio (L/D), a numerical measure of an airplane’s efficiency. The world’s best sailplane has an L/D of 70:1 in ideal conditions, if it is 1 mile above ground it can glide 70 miles before touching down. The M2-F1, which Thompson also flew for the first time, had an L/D of 2.8:1. The M2-F2 had an L/D of 3.1:1. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Sept. 8, 1966: :**First episode of the television series “Star Trek”

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Dec. 22, 1966:**First flight of the HL-10 lifting body research vehicle (pilot Bruce Peterson)

###### During its first research flight, the HL-10 suffered from buffeting and poor control. Pilot Bruce Peterson was able to make a successful landing despite the severe problems that were traced to airflow separation from the fins. A small reshaping of the fins' leading edges (applying a “cuff”) cured the airflow separation, but it was not until March 15, 1968, that the second HL-10 flight occurred***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Jan. 27, 1967:**Apollo 1pad fire

###### Astronauts, from left, Gus Grissom, Ed White II, and Roger Chaffee stand near Cape Kennedy's Launch Complex 34 in January 1967 during training for a flight. On Jan. 27, 1967, the three astronauts were sealed inside the Apollo capsule, conducting an all-up rehearsal of the first manned Apollo flight when a fire broke out. The hatch was not openable from inside and no one could reach them in time to save them. The investigation led to large-scale changes within both NASA and industry in procedures, designs, and manufacturing, producing a solid working, consistent capsule. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 13, 1967:**Visit with “Star Trek” television series creator and cast

###### NASA pilot Bruce Peterson, right, and “Star Trek” television series actor James Doohan discuss the M2-F2 lifting body aircraft. Doohan, along with series creator Gene Roddenberry and cast member DeForest Kelley visited the NASA Flight Research Center (now Armstrong).***Credits: NASA***

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##### **May 2, 1967:**First flight of the M2-F1 with rocket system installed 

###### The M2-F1 Lifting Body testing its “instant lift-to-drag ratio (L/D)” rocket on the lakebed at NASA's Flight Research Center (now Armstrong). The hydrogen peroxide-powered rocket gave a brief, small amount of thrust. The center’s work on the reaction control system made the X-15 – and virtually all other space-bound vehicles – maneuverable outside the atmosphere. Based on that work, the agency chose hydrogen peroxide-powered thrusters for the X-15. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **May 10, 1967:**M2-F2 crash (opening scene of “The Six Million Dollar Man” TV series, 1974-1978)

###### Bruce Peterson made the final unpowered free flight of the M2-F2, the lifting body’s 16the flight. On final approach, the M2-F2 began a Dutch roll (the lifting body had a very undesirable roll rate of 270 degrees per second). Once he arrested this, he saw a rescue helicopter in his path, so he moved laterally. But he’d used up precious time and altitude by then and the landing gear did not fully deploy before he touched down. The lifting body aircraft tumbled six times across the lakebed before coming to rest upside down. Jay King and Joseph Huxman pulled Peterson from the crash, and he was rushed to the base hospital, transferred to March Air Force Base, and then to UCLA Hospital. He recovered, but he lost one eye to a staph infection. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Oct. 3, 1967:**William "Pete" Knight reached speed record of Mach 6.7 (4,520 mph) in the X-15

###### U.S. Air Force pilot Pete Knight and seven other pilots flew higher than 50 miles in the X-15, ultimately earning astronaut wings. During its 199 test flights between 1959 and 1968, the X-15 set altitude and speed records that included breaking the Mach 4, 5, and 6 milestones. Lessons learned from the X-15 were directly applied to the development of the Space Shuttle Program. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 15, 1967:**X-15 No. 3 crashed, killing U.S. Air Force Maj. Mike Adams

###### U.S. Air Force test pilot Maj. Michael Adams stands beside X-15 No. 1. Already in the Air Force astronaut program, he was selected for the X-15 program in 1966 and made his first flight Oct. 6, 1966. On Nov. 15, 1967, Adams made his seventh X-15 flight. A series of cascading problems that began on ascent limited Adams’ recognition of a developing yaw (drift). The yaw developed into a spin from which the aircraft recovered, only to suffer another systems failure at 118,000 feet altitude.  Adams did not survive the crash. He was posthumously awarded Air Force astronaut wings since his final flight exceeded 50 miles altitude. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **March 15, 1968:**Jerauld “Jerry” Gentry flew the HL-10 for the second time, launched from 45,000 feet at Mach 0.65 (from B-52 launch to touchdown, total flight time approximately 4.4 minutes)

###### U.S. Air Force Maj. Jerry Gentry was the Air Force project pilot for the HL-10 while it was making the early glide and powered flights in 1968 following its modification. He made a total of nine flights in the vehicle. For his work on the HL-10, Gentry was awarded the Harmon International Trophy for his outstanding contribution to the science of flying. He later became the Air Force pilot for the X-24A***Credits: NASA***

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##### **May 6, 1968:**Neil Armstrong forced to eject from the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle seconds before it crashed

###### Astronaut Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11 mission commander, is seen shortly after ejecting from the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle No. 1. On a training flight, he lost thruster power and could not recover from a roll while rehearsing a lunar landing at Ellington Air Force Base near the Manned Spacecraft Center (now NASA’s Houston Space Center). He suffered a cut lip from the ejection and returned to his office to complete the day’s work. Today, one out of three ejections result in permanent damage to the individual. Ejection seats were even more violent in the 1960s***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Oct. 24, 1968:**LastX-15 flight (199th mission)

###### William "Bill" Dana flew the 199th, and last, X-15 flight. He reached a speed of Mach 5.38 and an altitude of 255,000 feet. An attempt to make a 200th flight was defeated by weather: it snowed. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 13, 1968:**John Manke flew the HL-10 in the first successful powered flight

###### NASA pilot John Manke is shown here on the lakebed next to the HL-10, one of four different lifting body types he flew, including the X-24B, which he flew 16 times. His final total was 42 lifting body flights. Manke would later serve as the center’s sixth director. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Dec. 17, 1968:**Last flight of the XB-70 when NASA pilots deliver it to the Museum of the U.S. Air Force, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

###### The XB-70A, capable of flying three times the speed of sound, was the world's largest experimental aircraft in the 1960s. Most XB-70 high-speed flight research program flights were scheduled during the morning to take advantage of the cooler ambient air temperatures for improved propulsion efficiency. The wing tips are extended straight out to provide a maximum lifting wing surface, but for high-speed flight they were drooped at the hinge line for the same effect. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 17, 1969:**B-52 launched first flight of the X-24A lifting body research vehicle (pilot Jerry Gentry) and then 15th flight of the HL-10 (pilot John Manke); only time in lifting body history, two flights in two different vehicles were launched on the same day from one mothership

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **May 9, 1969:**John Manke conducted the first supersonic lifting body flight in the HL-10 (altitude of 53,300 feet and speed of Mach 1.13)

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **July 16, 1969:**Apollo 11 launch – “One Giant Leap”

###### On July 16, 1969, the 363-feet tall, 6.2 million pound Saturn V rocket launches on the Apollo 11 mission from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, at 9:32 a.m. EDT. Onboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft are astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the United States' first manned, lunar landing mission. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **July 20, 1969:**Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin land on the Moon

###### Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot on the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during an Apollo 11 extravehicular activity on the lunar surface. The lunar module is on the left, and the footprints of the astronauts are visible in the soil of the Moon. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this picture with a 70mm Hasselblad lunar surface camera. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Dec. 12, 1969:**Only flight of the Hyper III (lifted to altitude by a U.S. Navy SH-3 helicopter)

###### The Hyper III was a low-cost, advanced lifting-body shaped test vehicle. It was built at the NASA Flight Research Center (now Armstrong) and had a steel-tube frame covered with Dacron, a fiberglass nose, sheet aluminum fins, and a wing from an HP-11 sailplane. Construction was by volunteers at the center. On the Hyper III's only flight, it was towed aloft attached to a Navy SH-3 helicopter by a 400-foot cable. NASA research pilot Bruce Peterson flew the SH-3. After he released the Hyper III from the cable, NASA research pilot Milt Thompson flew the vehicle by radio control until the final approach, when Dick Fischer (on Rogers Dry Lake) took over control using a model-airplane radio-control box. The Hyper III flared, then landed and slid to a stop on the lakebed. The project was canceled after that flight. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Feb. 18, 1970:**HL-10 reached Mach 1.86 (speed record for all lifting bodies) with U.S. Air Force Maj. Pete Hoag as pilot

###### U.S. Air Force Maj. Peter Hoag stands in front of the HL-10 lifting body. Hoag joined the HL-10 program in 1969 and made his first glide flight on June 6, 1969. He made a total of eight flights in the HL-10. They included the fastest lifting body flight, which reached Mach 1.861 on Feb. 18, 1970.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Feb. 27, 1970:**HL-10 reached 90,303 feet altitude (Bill Dana set record for highest altitude achieved by any lifting body)

###### NASA research pilot Bill Dana watches NASA's NB-52B perform a salute after a successful research flight in the HL-10, Sept. 15, 1966, photo. On the left, John Reeves can be seen at the cockpit of the lifting body aircraft. The HL-10 was flown 37 times during the Lifting Body research program and logged the highest altitude and fastest speed of the program. On Feb. 18, 1970, Air Force test pilot Peter Hoag piloted the HL-10 to Mach 1.86 (1,228 mph). Nine days later, NASA pilot Bill Dana flew the vehicle to 90,030 feet altitude, which became the highest reached in the program.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **March 19, 1970:**Jerry Gentry piloted the X-24A in its first powered flight, reaching Mach 0.87 (transonic region)

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 1, 1970:**Donald Mallick made his first flight in YF-12A with U.S. Air Force Maj. Sam Ursini

###### NASA research pilot Don Mallick in front of the YF-12A, an interceptor version of the Lockheed A-12, which NASA used to advance high-speed technology. The data would also be used to help in designing the supersonic transport. The Lockheed A-12 family, known as the Blackbirds and fueled by JP-7, were capable of cruising at Mach 3.2 and attaining altitudes of more than 80,000 feet. The first version, a CIA reconnaissance aircraft that first flew in April 1962 was an A-12. An interceptor version was developed in 1963 under the designation YF-12A. A U.S. Air Force reconnaissance variant, called the SR-71, first flew in 1964. NASA acquired three SR-71 airframes in the early 1990s and flew them until 1998 in high-altitude, high-speed research. It was the last operator of the type. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **June 2, 1970:**First flight of the M2-F3 lifting body research vehicle (the M2-F2 was rebuilt following a crash, now with a third vertical stabilizer)

###### The M2-F3 lifting body is seen here on the lakebed next to the NASA Flight Research Center (now Armstrong). Redesigned and rebuilt from the M2-F2, the M2-F3’s most visible change was the addition of a center fin for greater stability. While the M2-F3 was still demanding to fly, the center fin eliminated the high risk of pilot-induced oscillation that was characteristic of the M2-F2. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **July 17, 1970:**Final flight of the HL-10 (was flown 36 times by four pilots: John Manke, Bill Dana, Jerry Gentry, and Pete Hoag)

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **March 9, 1971:**First F-8 Supercritical Wing (SCW) flight with Thomas McMurtry at the controls

###### Tom McMurtry stands in front of a Vought F-8A Crusader Supercritical Wing (SCW). Th fuselage area ahead of and behind the wing’s trailing edge has been increased according to the area rule. A supercritical wing delays the formation of shock waves (which cause a spike in drag) until closer to Mach 1. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 14, 1971:**Rocketry pioneer Werner von Braun visited NASA Flight Research Center (Armstrong)

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Feb. 18, 1972:**

TACT

###### Starting in 1971, the NASA Flight Research Center (now Armstrong) and the Air Force began an almost 20-year research and flight test project using the F-111A. Intense interest over the results coming from the NASA F-8 supercritical wing program led the parties to use an F-111A to explore the application of supercritical wing technology to maneuverable military aircraft. This flight project was called Transonic Aircraft Technology (TACT). ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **May 25, 1972:**First flight of the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire (DFBW) project

###### Following success with the analog fly-by-wire Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, center engineers began a digital fly-by-wire program, in which aerodynamic surfaces were moved via digital flight control computer instead of cables and hydraulic systems. Based in part on the Apollo navigation computer (and championed by Neil Armstrong, then at NASA Headquarters), fly-by-wire systems are used in aircraft around the world today. Part of the benefit is replacing heavy mechanical systems, allowing greater fuel efficiency and increased passenger and cargo loads. The DFBW technology has transferred to the automotive world: anti-lock braking system, computer-controlled accelerators and motors, and even steering. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **May 24, 1972:**Two Concordes landed at Dulles (Washington, D.C.) airport in quick succession – the first arrived from London, the second from Paris

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Aug. 1, 1973:**First glide flight of the X-24B lifting body research vehicle (pilot John Manke)

###### When NASA research pilot John Manke climbed into the X-24B lifting body aircraft for his first flight after modifications, he found a note taped to the cockpit instrument panel, “Honestly now, have you read the instructions?” The note derived from a simulation flight he performed during which he crashed. The X-24B resembled a "flying flatiron" – a rounded top, flat bottom, and a flat double-delta planform that ended in a pointed nose, but it had the best lift-to-drag ration (L/D) of any lifting body aircraft.  ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 15, 1973:**John Manke piloted the X-24B for its first powered flight

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Sept. 1, 1974:**SR-71 flies New York to London in 1 hour, 54 minutes, 56.4 seconds

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Oct. 25, 1974:**U.S. Air Force Maj. Michael Love set the speed record of Mach 1.75 for the X-24B

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **May 22, 1975:**John Manke made the X-24B’s highest approach and landing, coming down to the lakebed from 74,100 feet – more than 14 miles above the Earth's surface

###### The X-24B lifting body, with a Lockheed F-104N chase plane in formation beside it, glides to a landing on Rogers Dry Lake, adjacent to the NASA Flight Research Center (now Armstrong) after a research flight. The center operated F-104s from 1956 to 1994***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Aug. 5, 1975:**X-24B made the first successful landing of a lifting body research vehicle on a conventional airplane runway

###### With NASA F-104 and T-38 chase planes keeping pace, the X-24B lifting body aircraft flares for the first landing on a paved runway – the main runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Two X-24B flights – one by NASA research pilot John Manke and the second by U.S. Air Force Maj. Mike Love – demonstrated that an unpowered lifting body aircraft could touchdown at a precise, pre-arranged point on the paved runway, for shuttle engineers’ benefit. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Sept. 23, 1975:**Bill Dana makes the final flight of the X-24B

###### This 1976 photo shows the X-24B lifting body on the Rogers Dry Lake with research pilots, from left, Einar Enevoldson, John Manke, Richard Scobee, Tom McMurtry, Bill Dana, and Michael Love in front of it. This was the last aircraft to fly in NASA’s manned lifting body program, and the last rocket plane flight at the center. Scobee went on to become an astronaut in NASA's Space Shuttle Program and died in the explosion of the space shuttle orbiter Challenger in 1986. ***Credits: NASA***

#### **1976 - 1985****

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##### **1976:**Crew from the "Star Trek" television series visited for the rollout of space shuttle Enterprise

###### In 1976, NASA’s space shuttle Enterprise rolled out of Rockwell International Corp.’s Palmdale assembly facility and was greeted by NASA officials and cast members from the “Star Trek” television series. Pictured from left are NASA Administrator Dr. James D. Fletcher; DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy on the series; George Takei (Mr. Hikaru Sulu); James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott); Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Nyota Uhura); Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock); series creator Gene Roddenberry; U.S. Rep. Don Fuqua (D.-Fla.); and Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov). ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **March 26, 1976:**NASA Flight Research Center formally named NASA’s Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center

###### NASA Flight Research Center was renamed in honor of Hugh Dryden’s substantial contributions to aeronautics and his efforts to transform the former NACA into the core of the new agency.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 26, 1976:**NB-52B transferred to NASA on permanent loan

###### The space shuttle solid rocket booster drop test vehicle was first released from NB-52B in 1977. The B-52 served as the launch vehicle on 106 X-15 flights and flew a total of 159 captive-carry and launch missions from June 1959 to October 1968. Information gained from the highly successful X-15 program contributed to the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo human spaceflight programs as well as space shuttle development. Between 1966 and 1975, the B-52 served as the launch aircraft for 127 of the 144 wingless lifting body flights. In the 1970s and 1980s, the B-52 was the launch aircraft for several aircraft to what is now NASA Armstrong to study spin-stall, high-angle-of attack, and maneuvering characteristics. ***Credits: NASA/Bob Rhine***

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##### **Jan. 14, 1977:**First Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft delivered to NASA Dryden 

###### The first Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft was delivered to NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) by Fitzhugh "Fitz" Fulton and Tom McMurtry. Later that month, on Jan. 31, the space shuttle Enterprise was trucked to Dryden from the Rockwell International facility in Palmdale to begin preparation for the Approach and Landing Test project. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Aug. 12, 1977:**First free flight of shuttle Enterprise during approach and landing tests

###### In January 1977, workers trucked Enterprise 36 miles overland from Palmdale to NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) where they placed it on the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747. Taxi tests began in February, followed by the first captive inactive flight later that month. The first captive-active flight that included a crew aboard the shuttle took place in June, and Enterprise made its first free flight Aug. 12 with Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton at the controls. Four additional free flight approach and landing flights were completed by October. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Aug. 14, 1978:**NASA research pilot Bill Dana flew first data flight in an F-15A equipped with a 10-degree cone

###### Close up of the 10-degree cone attached to the nose of the F-15A. The aircraft recorded in-flight data, while an identical cone was tested in wind tunnels. The difference from the "real world" flight data and the data from the simulated conditions in the wind tunnels was then used to calibrate the data from the wind tunnels. ***Credits: NASA/Bob Rhine***

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##### **July 24, 1979:**First flight of a KC-135 jet with winglets

###### While wind tunnel tests suggested that winglets – developed by Richard Whitcomb of NASA’s Langley Flight Research Center in Hampton, Virginia – would significantly reduce drag, flight research proved their usefulness. Winglets were installed on a U.S. Air Force KC-135 and research flights were made in 1979 and 1980. These showed drag in flight was reduced by as much as 6%. Winglets soon appeared on production aircraft***Credits: NASA***

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##### **July 27, 1979:**First flight of the Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology (HiMAT) aircraft

###### The HiMAT subscale research vehicle was flown from mid 1979 to January 1983. The aircraft demonstrated advanced fighter technologies that have been used in the development of many modern high performance military aircraft. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Dec. 21, 1979:**Thomas McMurtry piloted first flight of the AD-1 oblique wing research aircraft

###### The AD-1 aircraft is shown in flight with its wing swept at 60 degrees, the maximum sweep angle. The aircraft was designed to investigate the concept of an oblique (pivoting) wing. The wing could be rotated on its center pivot, so that it could be set at its most efficient angle for the speed at which the aircraft was flying. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **March 7, 1980:**John Manke flew the Gossamer Albatross II

###### The Gossamer Albatross II is being assembled March 6, 1980, in a hangar at NASA Dryden (now Armstrong). Gossamer Albatross II conducted slow-speed flight tests in the spring of 1980. The original Gossamer Albatross completed the first completely human powered flight across the English Channel on June 12, 1979. Dr. Paul McCready was later awarded the most prestigious prize in American aviation, the Collier Trophy, for his work in the record-breaking project. Albatross II was the backup craft for the Channel flight. It was fitted with a small battery-powered electric motor and flight instruments for the NASA research program in low-speed flight. The minimal power required to fly this 94-foot-span aircraft suggested it could be solar-powered and led to numerous later record-breaking projects involving solar energy. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 14, 1981:**Space shuttle Columbia completed first spaceflight by landing at Edwards/Dryden

###### On April 14, 1981, the space shuttle Columbia touched down on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base/NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) after successfully completing two days in space on a test flight. Astronauts John W. Young, STS-1 commander, and Robert L. Crippen, pilot, were aboard the vehicle. The mission marked the first NASA flight to end with a wheeled landing and represented the beginning of a new age of spaceflight that would employ the same hardware repeatedly. An area of the Base was set aside for public viewing of the landing, and crowds numbered more than 200,000 people, with some estimates as high as 300,000 visitors who flocked to the site. Media from around the world added to the throng, as radio and TV trucks of all shapes and sizes rolled in from everywhere. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Oct. 1, 1981:**NASA’s Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center lost its independent status and became the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility under the management of NASA's Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The center regained its independence on March 1, 1994.

###### ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Feb. 4, 1984:**First free flight of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU)

###### Bruce McCandless II (in this image) and fellow NASA astronaut Robert Stewart were the first to fly "untethered spacewalk" in space during Space Shuttle mission 41-B in 1984. The MMU worked by squirting jets of compressed nitrogen, allowing for much greater mobility than that afforded previous space walkers, who had to use restrictive tethers. With a mass more than 140 kilograms, an MMU was heavy on Earth but weightless when drifting in orbit. The MMU was later replaced with the SAFER backpack propulsion unit. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 8, 1984:**Einar Enevoldson and Marta Bohn-Meyer delivered F-14A from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, to NASA Dryden

###### NASA TN 834, an F-14 Navy Tomcat, was used at NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) in 1986 and 1987 in a program known as the Variable-Sweep Transition Flight Experiment (VSTFE). This program explored laminar flow on variable sweep aircraft at high subsonic speeds.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Dec. 1, 1984:**Controlled Impact Demonstration crash

###### The B-720 left wing digs into the lakebed during NASA’s Controlled Impact Demonstration, which tested a promising fuel additive for retarding or suppressing post-crash fire in a real-world aircraft crash-landing scenario. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 9, 1985:**Space shuttle Atlantis arrived at NASA Dryden

###### Space shuttle Atlantis is rolled out of Rockwell International’s plant in Palmdale, California, on April 6, 1985. It arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 12 after an overland trip to NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) and cross-country ferry flight from Edwards Air Force Base atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Dec. 13, 1985:**First Mach 1 flight of the X-29 research aircraft 

###### The X-29 advanced technology demonstrator aircraft in flight over California's Mojave Desert shows its striking and unique forward swept wing and canard design. The fighter-sized demonstrator explored several concepts and technologies, including the use of advanced composites in aircraft construction; variable-camber wing surfaces; a unique forward-swept wing and its thin supercritical airfoil; strakes; close-coupled canards; and a fly-by-wire flight control system used to maintain control of the otherwise unstable aircraft.  ***Credits: NASA***

#### **1986 - 1995****

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##### **Jan. 28, 1986:**Loss of space shuttle Challenger and its seven astronauts

###### NASA lost seven of its own on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, when an O-ring on one of the solid rocket boosters failed, causing the external tank to explode. The shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch. In this photo from Jan. 9, 1986, the Challenger crew takes a break during countdown training at NASA Kennedy. From left are Teacher-in-Space Christa McAuliffe and astronauts Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Mission Commander Dick Scobee, astronaut Ronald McNair, pilot Mike Smith, and astronaut Ellison Onizuka.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 2, 1987:**First flight of the F/A-18 High Angle-of-Attack Research Vehicle (HARV)

###### The modified F-18 cruises over the desert near NASA Dryden (now Armstrong). In a three-phase flight research program lasting from April 1987 until September 1996, the aircraft completed 385 research flights and demonstrated stabilized flight at angles of attack between 65 and 70 degrees using thrust vectoring vanes, a research flight control system, and forebody strakes. Thrust vectoring has been adopted by a number of aircraft manufacturers since then.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Dec. 12, 1989:**First flight of the F-15 Self-Repairing Flight Control System (SRFCS)

###### During late 1989 and early 1990, the F-15 research aircraft investigated the SRFCS. The program, sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, demonstrated the ability of a flight control system to identify the failure of a control surface and reconfigure commands to other control devices such as ailerons, rudders, elevators, and flaps to continue the aircraft's mission or allow it to be landed safely.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Oct. 11, 1990:**First flight of the X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability (EFM) demonstrator

###### The first X-31, flying over Edwards Air Force Base in 1993, completed 292 flights during the EFM program before crashing on Jan. 19, 1995, when icing in the nose probe caused the flight control computer to receive bad data. German test pilot Karl-Heinz Lang ejected after the aircraft became uncontrollable. The program continued using the second aircraft. ***Credits: NASA/Jim Ross***

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##### **Oct. 3, 1991:**Marta Bohn-Meyer becomes first female flight test engineer assigned to the SR-71, a high-speed, high-altitude aeronautical research testbed

###### Marta Bohn-Meyer was chief engineer at NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) and twice a member of the U.S. Unlimited Aerobatic Team. She was one of two flight engineers assigned to fly in the SR-71 high-speed flight research program at NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center. She was the first female crewmember from NASA or the U.S. Air Force – and the second woman – to fly in one of the triple-sonic SR-71s. NASA used the SR-71s to obtain high-speed, high-altitude data that can be applied to improve the designs of future civil and military aircraft. Bohn-Meyer, 48, died Sept. 18, 2005, when the Giles G-300 she was flying crashed as she was beginning an aerobatic practice routine near the C.E. Page Airport in Yukon, Oklahoma.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **April 29, 1993:**X-31 No. 2 successfully executed a minimum radius, 180-degree, post-stall turn using thrust vectoring

###### The X-31 aircraft on a research mission from NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) is flying nearly perpendicular to the flight path while performing a minimum radius, 180-degree turn using a post-stall maneuver, well beyond the aerodynamic limits of any conventional aircraft. The revolutionary maneuver was dubbed the "Herbst Maneuver," for Wolfgang Herbst, a German proponent of using post-stall flight in air-to-air combat. ***Credits: NASA/Jim Ross***

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##### **March 1, 1994:** NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center once again became independent

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##### **Feb. 3, 1994:**Final flight of F-104G tail number (TN) 826

###### NASA research pilot Tom McMurtry advances the throttle of the sleek F-104 as it streaks across Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base. With hundreds of employees gathered atop the main administration building and the ramp area, McMurtry piloted NASA TN 826 toward NASA Dryden (now Armstrong), with the airspeed indicator reading 450 knots. At the last moment, he switched on the fuel flow to the afterburner and a vapor trail of fuel streamed out behind the screaming jet. A second or two later, the burner lit, leaving a tongue of flame as the sleek jet roared over the center in its final flyover salute and pulled up and away. After 1,415 flights, NASA TN 826, one of three F-104G aircraft obtained by NASA from the German Luftwaffe in 1975, had flown its last. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Aug. 29, 1995:**McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Propulsion Controlled Aircraft (PCA) first-ever, safe landing using only engine thrust to maneuver

###### On Aug. 29, 1995, aided by a NASA-developed PCA system, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 made the first-ever, safe landing of a transport aircraft using only engine power for control. Later, on Nov. 30, 1995, improved software enabled a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 to make a final landing at Edwards Air Force Base without the need for the pilot to manipulate the flight controls while using only engine power for control. The PCA system was conceived and developed at NASA Dryden in response to the crash of United Airlines 232 following an engine failure in the DC-10 that severed control systems. ***Credits: NASA***

#### **1996 - 2005****

##### **July 30, 1997:**X-38 prototype crew return vehicle first captive flight

###### NASA’s X-38 Advanced Technology Demonstrator for a proposed crew return vehicle from the International Space Station completed its first captive flight beneath the NB-52.***Credits: NASA***

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##### **March 12, 1998:**First free flight of the X-38

###### The X-38 crew return vehicle descended under its steerable parafoil over the California desert in its first free flight at NASA Dryden (now Armstrong). The unmanned lifting body landed under a gigantic parafoil. The X-38 vehicles are 28.5 feet long, 14.5 feet wide, and weigh approximately 16,000 pounds on average. The vehicles have a nitrogen-gas-operated attitude control system and a bank of batteries for internal power. The vehicle to be flown in space was expected to be 30 feet long. ***Credits: NASA/Carla Thomas***

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##### **Aug. 6, 1998:**Pathfinder Plus raised the world altitude record to 80,201 feet for solar-powered and propeller-driven aircraft

###### Pathfinder-Plus flies over the Hawaiian island of N'ihau in 1998. The goal of the flights was to validate new solar, aerodynamic, propulsion, and systems technology developed for the Pathfinder's successor, the Centurion/Helios Prototype, which was designed to reach and sustain altitudes in the 100,000-foot range. ***Credits: NASA/Nick Galante***

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##### **Oct. 9, 1999:**Last flight of a Lockheed SR-71 (now on display at NASA Armstrong)

###### The SR-71 last flew during the Edwards Air Force Base Air Show and Open House to 80,100 feet altitude and Mach 3.21. It was the last flight of any Blackbird. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **June 2, 2001:**X-43A No. 1 hypersonic research aircraft and booster had to be destroyed over the Pacific Ocean after the booster went out of control shortly after launch from the NB-52B

###### The first X-43A hypersonic research aircraft and its modified Pegasus booster rocket were carried aloft by NASA's NB-52B carrier aircraft from NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) on June 2, 2001, for the first of three high-speed free flight attempts. About an hour and 15 minutes later, the Pegasus booster was released from the B-52 to accelerate the X-43A to its intended speed of Mach 7. But the combined Pegasus and X-43A "stack" went out of control about eight seconds after release when the Pegasus control fins failed. NASA initiated the Flight Termination System and explosive charges ensured the stack fell into the Pacific Ocean in a U.S. Navy range area. Following an investigation, work resumed on two other X-43As. Central to the X-43A was its integration of an air-breathing "scramjet" engine that could enable a variety of high-speed aerospace craft and promote cost-effective access to space. The 12-foot, unpiloted research vehicle was developed and built for NASA by MicroCraft Inc. in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The booster was built by Orbital Sciences Corp. in Chandler, Arizona. ***Credits: NASA/Jim Ross***

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##### **Aug. 13, 2001:**Solar-electric Helios prototype reaches 96,863 feet altitude, the highest altitude for a winged vehicle in horizontal flight

###### The Helios prototype solar-electric flying wing was one of several remotely piloted aircraft, also known as uninhabited aerial vehicles, or UAVs, developed as technology demonstrators under the Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program. The Helios prototype set a world altitude record for propeller-driven aircraft of almost 97,000 feet. The program suffered a major setback when the Helios experienced control difficulties while on a checkout flight June 26, 2003, and succumbed to structural failure, broke up about 10 miles west of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The experimental fuel cell system carried aboard the Helios prototype on that flight was lost. ***Credits: NASA/Carla Thomas***

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##### **Dec. 13, 2001:**X-38 descended under giant 7,500-square-foot parafoil

###### The X-38 prototype of the crew return vehicle (CRV) for the International Space Station suspended under its giant 7,500-square-foot parafoil during its eighth free flight Dec. 13, 2001. A portion of the descent was flown by remote control by a NASA astronaut from a ground vehicle configured like the CRV's interior before the X-38 made an autonomous landing on Rogers Dry Lake***Credits: NASA/Tom Tschida***

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##### **Nov. 15, 2002:**First flight of the X-53 Active Aeroelastic Wing

###### The modified F/A-18A was evaluated during the first check flight in the Active Aeroelastic Wing (AAW) project at NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center. The project demonstrated roll control provided by active control of wing flexibility on a full-size aircraft, nearly a century after the Wright Brothers used the method to control their Flyer. The X-53 designation was bestowed on the project by the U.S. Air Force/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, after the success of the project. The results offer more freedom in designing more efficient, thinner, higher aspect-ratio wings for future high-performance aircraft while reducing the structural weight of the wings by 10% to 20%. This will allow increased fuel efficiency or payload capability, along with potentially reduced radar signature. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Feb. 1, 2003:**Loss of space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew

###### The seven-member crew of the STS-107 mission was just 16 minutes from landing on the morning of Feb. 1, 2003, when mission control lost contact with the shuttle Columbia. A piece of foam, falling from the external tank during launch, opened a hole in the leading edge of shuttle's left wing, leading to the breakup of the orbiter during re-entry. Addressing the nation, President Bush said, "Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on." Top row, from left: David M. Brown, mission specialist; William C. McCool, pilot; and Michael P. Anderson, payload commander. Bottom row, from left: Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist; Rick D. Husband, mission commander; Laurel B. Clark, mission specialist; and Ilan Ramon, payload specialist from the Israeli Space Agency. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **July 26, 2003:**First flight of X-56A Multi-Utility Technology Testbed (MUTT) 

###### The X-56A flies over the desert near NASA Armstrong. NASA researchers used the remotely piloted X-56A to investigate key technologies for active flutter suppression and gust-load alleviation***Credits: NASA/Jim Ross***

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##### **March 19, 2004:**First flight of F-15B research aircraft Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS)

###### NASA F-15B research aircraft tail number (TN) 836 shadowed its stablemate, F-15B TN 837, during an IFCS project flight from NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center. The goal of the IFCS project was to develop and demonstrate a direct adaptive neural network-based flight control system. The direct adaptive approach incorporated neural networks that were applied directly to the flight control system feedback errors to provide adjustments to improve aircraft performance in normal flight and with system failures. A secondary goal was to develop the processes of verification and validation of neural networks for use in flight-critical applications***Credits: NASA/Carla Thomas***

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##### **Nov. 16, 2004:**X-43A reached a speed of Mach 9.6, or almost 7,000 mph 

###### The third X-43A hypersonic research aircraft and its modified Pegasus booster rocket accelerated after launch from NASA's NB-52B launch aircraft over the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 16, 2004. The stack was released from the center’s B-52 launch aircraft and the booster accelerated to nearly Mach 10, at which point the X-43A separated from the Pegasus and accelerated to its intended speed of Mach 9.6, demonstrating the ability to match drag forces. ***Credits: NASA/Carla Thomas***

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##### **Dec. 17, 2004:**NASA retired NB-52B mothership aircraft

###### NASA's NB-52B takes off carrying the third X-43A hypersonic research vehicle on a captive carry evaluation flight in 2004. The aircraft was the oldest B-52 then in service, yet the one with the least hours because most of its career was spent as a launch platform at Edwards Air Force Base. Having launched advanced flight research vehicles over a lengthy career spanning nearly a half century, the venerable air-launch aircraft was decommissioned in formal ceremonies at NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) at Edwards Air Force Base. It is now on display at the base’s North Gate. ***Credits: NASA***

#### **2006 - 2015****

##### **Sept. 7, 2006:**First true automated aerial refueling, between a NASA F/A-18 and an Omega Boeing 707 tanker

###### F/A-18 tail number (TN) 845 is behind an Omega Air Boeing 707 tanker during an Autonomous Airborne Refueling Demonstration (AARD) flight. The F/A-18 NASA crew hold their hands in the air to demonstrate their non-involvement when the aircraft locates and attaches the fuel probe to the tanker’s “probe and drogue” refueling system. ***Credits: NASA/Jim Ross***

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##### **July 20, 2007:**First X-48 flight 

###### Boeing's sub-scale X-48B Blended Wing Body technology demonstrator rests on the cracked surface of Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base before beginning its flight test program. The first five test flights to study the structural, aerodynamic, and operational advantages of the hybrid or Blended Wing Body concept occurred in early 2007. ***Credits: Boeing/Robert Ferguson***

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##### **Jan. 30, 2009:**NASA's highly modified NF-15B research aircraft No. 837 makes its final flight

###### Former NASA research pilot Jim Smolka puts the canard-equipped NF-15B aircraft with its brilliant red, white, and blue plumage through a spectacular flight demonstration to conclude its career, including a steep climb with afterburners roaring. Built in 1973 as the first two-seat TF-15, the unique aircraft flew in several significant research and test programs for the U.S. Air Force, McDonnell Douglas, and NASA during its almost 36-year lifetime***Credits: NASA/Tony Landis***

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##### **Jan. 4, 2010:**David McBride became center director

###### David McBride, director of NASA Dryden, speaks from a podium underneath the space shuttle Endeavour during the grand opening ceremony for the California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion, Oct. 30, 2012, in Los Angeles. McBride is flanked by Bill Nye, right, and the CEO of the California Science Center, Jeffrey Rudolph. McBride was appointed NASA Armstrong’s center director Jan. 4, 2010, after serving as acting director since April 2009***Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls***

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##### **May 6, 2010:**First test of the Orion Pad Abort 1, the first fully integrated flight test of the crew rescue system being developed for the Orion crew capsule

###### Officials and media representatives watch the launch of an Orion test crew module and its launch abort system during NASA's Pad Abort 1 test May 6, 2010, at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. PA-1 was the first fully integrated flight test of the crew rescue system being developed for the Orion crew capsule. ***Credits: NASA***

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##### **Nov. 30, 2010:**Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy’s (SOFIA’s) first science flight; the telescope is carried by a modified Boeing 747SP

###### Universities Space Research Association's Jim De Buizer, at lower right, studies data with Faint Object InfraRed Camera for the SOFIA Telescope, or FORCAST, principal investigator Terry Herter, left, while astronomers Eric Becklin, SOFIA scientific advisor, and Mark Morris from UCLA, look on during preparations for the SOFIA Observatory's initial science flight. ***Credits: NASA/Tom Tschida***

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##### **Jan. 10, 2012:**“Star Trek” actress Nichelle Nichols visits NASA Dryden

###### Actress Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Lt. Nyota Uhura in the original “Star Trek” television series, signed autographs for NASA Dryden's Gwen Young, Louise Boyd, and scores of other Dryden employees during her visit and tour of NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) and the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility. Nichols, who served as a NASA ambassador recruiting women and minorities for the astronaut program, also recapped her career in acting and in promoting civil rights for minorities before an audience at Dryden before touring Dryden aircraft and facilities at Edwards and Palmdale in the company of Center Director David McBride***Credits: NASA/Tom Tschida***

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##### **June 27, 2013:**Prandtl-D demonstrates proverse yaw

###### NASA Armstrong's former chief scientist and Prandtl-D project manager Al Bowers holds the first aircraft to demonstrate proverse yaw. Bowers challenged the fundamental core assumptions of leaders in the field of aviation: Their solutions to overcome adverse yaw were wrong. With a nod to German aerodynamicist Ludwig Prandtl’s 1933 theory of minimum induced drag and bending moment, Bowers named the first iteration of his work the “Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Lower Drag (Prandtl-D).” He began his multiple-year trek to prove that not only could adverse yaw be negated, but it could be turned into proverse yaw for aircraft without relying on rudders or complicated computerized flight controls to accomplish it – just as birds achieve it***Credits: NASA/Tom Tschida***

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##### **March 1, 2014:**NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center is redesignated NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center

###### Legislation passed Congress and was signed into law by President Obama in January 2014 to rename NASA Dryden after the late Neil A. Armstrong, a research pilot at the center and the first man to step on the moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Armstrong flew research aircraft, including the rocket-powered X-15s, during his seven-year tenure at the center from 1955 through 1962. The name change became official March 1, 2014, and a formal dedication ceremony was May 13. ***Credits: NASA/Ken Ulbrich***

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##### **Sept. 15, 2015:**Famed television actress Nicelle Nichols participates in a SOFIA research flight 

###### Star Trek” actress Nichelle Nichols flies aboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) as part of NASA’s Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program. Nichols, left, and Jeffrey Killebrew, a teacher at the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, discuss wording for the message Nichols was going to send from the stratosphere to the school’s students. ***Credits: NASA/Carla Thomas***

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##### **Oct. 28, 2015:**First flight of the Prandtl-D No. 3

###### Interns David Lee, Golda Nguyen, and Scott Gleason recover the Prandtl-D No. 3 after one of its first flights. The Prandtl-D No. 3, which has a 25-foot wingspan, reached an altitude of about 160 feet during the first flight. Two additional flights resulted in a higher altitude of about 210 feet and a flight lasting two minutes, 55 seconds. The aircraft carried a suite of instruments to demonstrate its peculiar spanloading. ***Credits: NASA/Lauren Hughes***

#### **2016 - 2021****

##### **Oct. 12, 2018:**Theatrical release of “First Man,” based on the 2005 book “First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong” by James R. Hansen

###### A mockup of an X-15 rocket plane being placed on Rosamond Dry Lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Feb. 21, 2018, for a scene in the film "First Man." The feature-length film biography by Damien Chazelle of Neil Armstrong was released in 2018. Based on James R. Hansen’s official biography, the film focused on Armstrong’s life at NASA. ***Credits: U.S. Air Force photo by Kenji Thuloweit***

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##### **June 13, 2019:**Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) team awarded 2018 Collier Trophy

###### The Auto GCAS technology, which NASA has been expanding to support non-fighter aircraft as improved GCAS (iGCAS), was awarded the 2018 Robert J. Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association. The prestigious award is presented annually for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America. A committee of 30 aviation and aerospace professionals selected the team as the recipient for the development, integration, and test of the proven, life-saving technology. The 8-foot-high Collier Trophy arrived from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum to honor the team for the historic win. From left to right: Col. Robert Ungerman, Mark Skoog (NASA), Ed Griffin, Mark Wilkins, Jim Albaugh, Greg Principato, Donald Swihart, and Lt. Col. Tucker Hamilton. ***Credits: National Aeronautic Association***

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##### **July 2, 2019**Orion Ascent Abort (AA)-2 launched

###### A fully functional Launch Abort System (LAS) with a test version of Orion attached, launches on NASA’s Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) atop a Northrop Grumman provided booster on July 2, 2019, from Launch Pad 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. During AA-2, the booster sent the LAS and Orion to an altitude of 31,000 feet, traveling at Mach 1.15 (more than 1,000 mph). The LAS’ three motors worked together to pull the crew module away from the booster and prepare it for splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The flight test demonstrated the Orion spacecraft’s launch abort system can outrun a speeding rocket and pull astronauts to safety during an emergency during launch, marking a milestone in NASA’s preparation for Artemis missions to the Moon. ***Credits: NASA/Tony Gray and Kevin O’Connell***

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##### **Oct. 2, 2019:**NASA’s all-electric experimental aircraft X-57 Maxwell, in its Mod II configuration, arrives at NASA Armstrong

###### NASA’s all-electric X-57 Maxwell, in its Mod II configuration, arrives at NASA Armstrong. The X-plane was delivered by prime contractor Empirical Systems Aerospace of San Luis Obispo, California, in two parts, with the wing separated from the fuselage, to aid in delivery. X-57 is NASA’s first crewed X-plane in two decades and seeks to further advance the design and airworthiness process for distributed electric propulsion technology for general aviation aircraft***Credits: NASA/Lauren Hughes***

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National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationPage Editor: Laura NewtonNASA Official: Brian Dunbar

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