SANDSUKY, Ohio (AP) β A NASA research facility in Ohio has been renamed after astronaut Neil Armstrong, who was born in the state and returned shortly after he became the first man to walk on the moon.
Ohioβs U.S. senators led the efforts to change the name of the NASA Plum Brook Station in Sandusky to the Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility.
Republican Rob Portman said he raised the idea with Armstrong in 2012, shortly before Armstrongβs death, but he wasnβt comfortable with the attention it would bring.
βIt was never about him. It was about the mission,β Portman said Wednesday at a ceremony marking the name change.
NASA and Armstrongβs family supported renaming the research center, Portman said.
Armstrongβs son, Mark Armstrong, said the early space missions showed people across the world that they could do things they could never imagine.
βThat is more empowering than any scientific advancement,β he said. βItβs more empowering than the transistor. Itβs more empowering than the computer. Because itβs unlimited. And thatβs what we have to remind people.β
Armstrong was born just outside Wapakoneta in 1930, took flying lessons at a nearby airstrip and made his first solo flight at age 16. After the moon landing in 1969, he taught at the University of Cincinnati.