LOS ANGELES — Neil Armstrong’s name is attached to a lunar crater, an asteroid, more than a dozen schools and a museum, but not a single NASA facility is christened in honor of the man whose “giant leap” made him the first to walk on the moon.
All that could soon change. Leaders are mulling a proposed name change at Dryden Flight Research Center, the place where Armstrong was a test pilot and where eventual space flight was born. It’s named for another pioneer, former NASA executive Hugh Dryden.
It’s not a done deal. The Dryden moniker has existed since 1976. Before that, the center at Edwards Air Force Base about 90 miles north of Los Angeles had no name.
The Dryden name wouldn’t disappear. The proposal calls for designating the center’s test range in his honor as a consolation. The Associated Press
