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Is NASA Going To Have Two Centers Named "Armstrong"?

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 15, 2019
Filed under
Is NASA Going To Have Two Centers Named "Armstrong"?

Ohio senators propose renaming NASA site for Neil Armstrong, AP
“Ohio’s U.S. senators want Congress to rename a NASA research facility in Ohio after astronaut Neil Armstrong. Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown introduced legislation Thursday to honor the Ohio native by renaming the NASA Plum Brook Station in Sandusky. Portman says he raised the idea with Armstrong in 2012, a year before Armstrong’s death. The senator says Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, wasn’t comfortable with the attention it would bring. Portman says he has since spoken with NASA and Armstrong’s family and they support renaming the facility.”
Keith’s note: Wait a minute we already have a NASA Facility named after Neil Armstrong – NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC). Don’t these congressional staffers have Google to check this stuff out before running it up to their boss? Or is NASA going to have two centers/facilities named “Armstrong”? I wonder what the good people of Sandusky think about this? Besides much of this facility is no longer even used – parts of it have already been demolished and the reactor has been decommissioned. How many Orion and Service Module tests are going to be done there before GRC has to go out and find something new to do with the old buildings. Oh yes a reader reminds me that NASA/KSC also has the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility just east of the HQ building, which is where Orion is assembled and tested. If NASA is not done honoring Neil Armstrong then perhaps picking a quasi abandoned facility out in the woods is not the best way to do so. Maybe Jeff Bezos can name a rocket after him.
NASA Honors Astronaut Neil Armstrong with Center Renaming, Earlier post (2014)
“Two generations of aerospace engineering excellence will come together March 1 when NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., is redesignated NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.”
Dakota Creek launches R/V Neil Armstrong , Earlier post (2014)
“Dakota Creek Industries (DCI) launched the oceanographic research ship R/V Neil Armstrong (AGOR 27) at its Anacortes, WA, shipyard on February 22nd, 2014. Construction of the  R/V Neil Armstrong and her sister vessel R/V Sally Ride (AGOR 28), also well under way at DCI, have progressed according to plan, meeting original schedule and cost baselines.”

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10 responses to “Is NASA Going To Have Two Centers Named "Armstrong"?”

  1. Stephen Michael Kellat says:
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    The closer we get to an appropriations lapse deadline the more we see members of Congress stall and obfuscate with stuff like this. Passing a budget should be a higher priority than this. Besides, we should have headquartered US Space Force at Plum Brook before talking about renaming the quaint facility…

  2. spacegaucho says:
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    This is just another example of the glaring ineptness of the Ohio confessional delegation when it comes to NASA Glenn.I would think they are getting nervous about what will become of Plumbrook and Lewis Field as Orion testing winds down. Their strategy has been to convert Glenn into a quasi spaceflight center. This strategy was OK while NASA budgets were continuously rising. It could get pretty nasty when they are going down. So they reach into the same bag of tricks that produced the name change from Lewis to Glenn. Maybe the should use the Electoral clout of the state to ensure that Glenn lead the fuel depot effort and make sure Shelby et al don’t kill the funding.

  3. mfwright says:
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    Though astronauts are people of high quality and impressive accomplishments, I still think centers should be named from the titans of aerospace. There are numerous schools and other places named after astronauts. Centers should be for those that made far reaching contributions like Ames, Dryden, Goddard, and Lewis (other places named after politicians are pretty obvious why it was done). I wonder when Ames and Goddard will be changed like the others.

    • tutiger87 says:
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      Armstrong was a titan out there at Edwards.

    • fcrary says:
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      I agree but for slightly different reasons. When Lewis was renamed for Glenn and Dryden for Armstrong, very few people remembered who George Lewis and Hugh Dryden were. But that’s the whole point of naming things for people. As long as they were called Lewis and Dryden, at least a few people would get curious and look it up. It’s a way to keep people from being completely forgotten.

  4. Leonard McCoy says:
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    Better to name the first human settlement on the moon after Armstrong.

  5. chuckc192000 says:
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    They already renamed the O&C Building at KSC after Armstrong.

  6. RocketScientist327 says:
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    No one in their right mind would vote to BRAC / RIF NASA Armstrong but it was a distinct possibility when it was NASA Dryden. I remember that discussion well at Russell.

  7. Robert Cy Jones says:
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    Are we forgetting Aldrin? Collins? They could at least open the facility.