NASA’s Glenn Research Center will hold a dedication ceremony for its Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, on Wednesday, Aug. 11. Media are invited to attend. Formerly called Plum Brook Station, the facility is home to some of the world’s most powerful and capable space simulation chambers that support NASA’s Artemis program and commercial spaceflight testing.
Beginning at 1 p.m. EDT, the following officials will honor the American icon and celebrate the facility’s contributions to NASA and commercial space:
- Senator Bill Nelson, NASA administrator
- Col. Pam Melroy, NASA deputy administrator
- Members of the Ohio Federal and State Delegation
- Dr. Marla Pérez-Davis, NASA’s Glenn Research Center director
- Mr. Mark Armstrong, son of astronaut Neil Armstrong
Media interested in attending should contact Jimi Russell at james.j.russell@nasa.gov or 216-704-2412 by 3 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Aug. 10. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, on-site attendance will require masks and is limited to participants, invited guests, and credentialed media only. All dates and times are subject to change.
Located on 6,400 acres, the facility includes the Space Environments Complex, which houses innovative simulation technologies like vacuum and acoustic chambers and a spacecraft shaker system. Also on-site is the NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed, where engineers are ushering in the future of sustainable flight, and the In-Space Propulsion Facility, which performs complex testing of full-scale in-space vehicles and rocket engines.
Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, began his NASA career at Glenn Research Center (called the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory at the time) as a test pilot in 1955. He flew aircraft like the F-82 Twin Mustang and C-47 Skytrain before eventually transitioning to the agency’s High Speed Flight Station in California and later becoming an astronaut.
