Editing Edwards Air Force Base (section)

==== NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center ====
{{Main|Armstrong Flight Research Center}}
[[File:Collection of military aircraft.jpg|thumb|Armstrong Flight Research Center fleet in 1997|alt=|left]]

: Contained inside Edwards Air Force Base is NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) where modern aircraft research is still active (e.g. the [[Boeing X-45]]). The AFRC is home to many of the world's most advanced aircraft. Notable recent research projects include the [[Controlled Impact Demonstration]] and the [[LASRE|Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment]]. It is chartered to research and test advanced aeronautics, space and related technologies for atmospheric flight operations, and to transfer those technologies to industry and other government agencies. Armstrong supports NASA's Earth science research with a fleet of specialized manned and unmanned environmental science aircraft. Armstrong is also involved in NASA's space science mission by managing and flying the [[Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy]]. The center is named for [[Neil Armstrong|Neil A. Armstrong]], an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon. Armstrong's history dates back to late 1946, when 13 engineers arrived at what is now Edwards from the [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics|NACA]] [[Langley Research Center|Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory]] in [[Virginia]] to support the last supersonic research flights by the X-1 rocket plane in a joint NACA, Army Air Forces and Bell Aircraft program.