NASA has named veteran test pilot Troy Asher director of its Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, making permanent the leadership role he has held on an acting basis since March.
The agency announced the appointment on October 29. Asher succeeds Bradley Flick, who retired in March after nearly 40 years at NASA.
Flight research and experimental aircraft
Asher will oversee Armstrong’s workforce, aircraft operations and aviation technology research. NASA says the center has a central role in expanding its experimental X-plane portfolio, alongside support for airborne science missions.
He previously led Armstrong’s Flight Operations organization and joined NASA in 2008. His flying experience includes the F-15, F/A-18, Gulfstream III and X-56A unmanned aircraft system. He also served as lead development test pilot for the SOFIA airborne observatory.
Speed records belong to an earlier career
Before NASA, Asher served 24 years in the U.S. Air Force. The 25 world speed records cited in his biography were set in a B-1B bomber in 2003; they are not a new flight achievement announced this week.
Source: NASA’s October 29 appointment announcement, release 26-092.
Archive: historic X-15 museum display, photographed January 11, 2007; not the appointment or a current test. Photo: Eric Long / National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0. Resized and compressed to WebP.
