Title: NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Designer: Federal Design Improvement Program
Year it was designed: 1976
Explanation or story behind the patch: The NASA Flight Research Center was renamed in honor of Dr. Hugh L. Dryden during a ceremony on 26 March 1976. Dryden (1989-1965) became the first person to hold the position of Director of the NACA in 1949. He helped shape policy that led to development of the high-speed research program and its record-setting X-15 rocket aircraft. Dryden’s leadership was evident in establishing vertical and short takeoff and landing aircraft programs, and he sought solutions to the problem of atmospheric reentry for piloted spacecraft and ballistic missiles. He was also instrumental in the development of the Unitary Wind Tunnel Plan, which saved millions of dollars by avoiding facility duplication. On Oct. 1, 1958, when the NACA became the nucleus of the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Dryden became its first appointed deputy administrator. During the early 1960s, he became NASA’s revered elder statesman of science and shared with the administrator the management of a multi-billion dollar program to develop space vehicles, advance space-related sciences, enable humans to travel out to the moon and back, and carry out extensive aeronautical research.