Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center
Rep. McCarthy Seeks to Rename Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center
“Congressman Kevin McCarthy today announced legislation to redesignate the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range. Joining Congressman McCarthy in introducing this legislation are Congressman Buck McKeon, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Congressman Ken Calvert, Congressman Lamar Smith, Congressman Steven Palazzo, and Congressman Adam Schiff.”
I wish they wouldn’t do that. Although Armstrong is a fine man, Hugh Dryden, like George Lewis, made major contributions to aerospace science and engineering which still stand on their shoulders but their names and legacy might become lost. I don’t know about signs along the road “Aeronautical Test Range.”
Totally agree. I think Mr Armstrong would probably rather not have his name on anything but he would definitely be opposed to taking away recognition of someone that made the contributions Mr Dryden did.
Let’s find some other object to remember the great Neil Armstrong with. How about we build a real space ship that can go anywhere and call it the Armstrong. Perhaps the ship that takes us to Mars. Maybe a lunar base or something that would have some real attachment to his name.
Both Dryden and Armstrong are dead and don’t care anymore.
This is simply for the benefit of congressman Kevin McCarthy and his posse.
Speak for yourself – whoever you are. You win the NASAWatch “Jerk of the Day” award.
An inconvenient truth, is all.
Not every politician waiving your flag is on your side.
I looked him up – didn’t see much history related to Space or to Armstrong, but did see that he’s the majority whip.
Keith – I called a cynical politician a cynical politician. No disrespect to either Armstrong or Dryden.
Did you even bother to ask the congressman why he did this? Did it ever cross your mind that he might have grown up in the 60s – as I did and a hundred million other Americans did – many of us looking up to people like Neil Armstrong? YOU are the cynic.
Actually, Armstrong is my hero too. But I spoke of him often between the 80s and now – not only after he died and it was convenient to make political capital off of him.
I searched for references to the good congressman and space or Armstrong, prior to this year. meh.
He’s whip, this is his job. Occam’s razor.
Keith – politicians EXCEL at turning heroes into tools of the trade. You’ve never noticed that?
Did you even bother to ask Rep. McCarthy? No, of course not. You do some Google searches and then post comments under a fake name. FAIL.
You apparently don’t look hard enough. I hate to defend McCarthy but in this case… roughly half of DFRC employees are in his district. Buck McKeon, a cosponsor, represents about the other half.
That said, Dryden’s statement about seperating the real from the imangined is the best way to describe DFRC’s vital but unappreciated mission, and Neil Armstrong was supposedly against the name change when it came up about 3-4 years ago.
I know, he’s from Bakersfield, but this is even more reason why he should have been more involved in real Space issues. Didn’t find any references that he was.
Doesn’t really matter even. I hate when politicians ride the coat-tails of real heroes, be it Space heroes, Military heroes, Emergency responders, whatever. yuck. Take care of them when they need you, but don’t go around glorifying yourself in their name after they are dead.
I agree with Michael Wright. I don’t work for NASA, but I do know a little about Hugh Dryden because the center is now named for him. Dryden’s work on aerodynamics, the development of the X-15 and, according to Tom Wolfe, his suggestion of the moon landing to Kennedy as a response to Gagarin’s flight paved the way for Armstrong. I know that to a less involved general public, Neil Armstrong is a name everybody knows, but it is a name that they will know without re-naming the Dryden Flight Research Center. In fact, knowing of Armstrong’s passion for aviation history, I doubt he would stand for re-naming it!
Agreed. It’s inevitable that Armstrong’s name will be used on the Moon to name (at least one) something significant, if we ever go back, which I think is appropriate because that’s where he did something very significant.
DFRC is where Dryden did his “something significant” (many things actually; he’s an unsung hero), so the same logic should apply. Leave it alone.
I wonder what John Glenn thinks about this, having been through a somewhat similar situation.
I don’t like it either, I didn’t like changing the name of Lewis to Glenn. I greatly respect the contribution of all those men but a research center should be named after someone that has made a large contribution in that area.
I say go ahead and rename it. When our heroes pass on, people name things after them. Often those things are already named and the previous hero shifts down one place. In this case, Dryden’s name will be preserved on the test range.
It is clear that Armstrong was uncomfortable with his fame and that tens of thousands of people worked 24/7 for 9 years to get him to the moon and he felt that he was only the first guy out the door. That is the sort of genuine humility that we like in our heroes. I’d be more uncomfortable with someone who wanted things named after them.
As for congressman McCarthy exploiting Armstrong’s name for political advantage, I truly doubt that he is think along those lines. I don’t know McCarthy at all but the political gain he would get by doing this would be relatively small. About the only extra exposure he would get would be a photo op of him and current director standing next to the sign as the sheet is dropped. That’s not the sort of thing that is going to make your re-election a slam dunk.
I think Armstrong should be reserved for the name of a Lunar science outpost.
Uhh, why would closing Dryden be on the list. Smallest center, but a big name in aero and airborne science. Dryden’s budget is a rounding error, but it plays a major role in the only part of NASA that impacts the average person on a regular basis.
Given the economic forecast, NASA needs to be more involved in research that can generate jobs and exports; in this regard aviation may be more important than space, and Ames is important to aviation.