Troy A. Asher

Troy A. Asher is the acting center director at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Appointed to this position in March 2026, he oversees all aspects of management, strategy, and operations at Armstrong, one of the agency’s 10 field centers.

NASA Armstrong is the agency’s lead center for atmospheric flight research, operations, and testing, and continues to accelerate advances in science, technology, and exploration to enhance knowledge, education, innovation, economic vitality, and stewardship of Earth.

Armstrong supports the agency by providing flight research and development for NASA aeronautics as well as global flight operations and development for NASA science in support of astrophysics and Earth science. Armstrong supports the agency’s human space flight and space technology efforts through atmospheric flight validation.

Experience

Previously, Asher was the director for Flight Operations at NASA Armstrong. He was responsible for managing the center’s 300-person flight research operation of pilots, maintainers, and engineers, as well as a fleet of 25 highly modified manned and unmanned aircraft of 11 different types that are flown on worldwide aeronautical, science, and astronomy flight research missions.

Asher joined the Armstrong flight operations staff in 2008 as a research test pilot and aerospace engineer. This followed a 24-year career as a U.S. Air Force officer and test pilot, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

As a research pilot, Asher conducted flight test and airborne research on various aircraft, including the F-15, F/A-18, Gulfstream III, T-34 and X-56A unmanned aircraft system. He was the lead test pilot for the development of NASA’s 747SP Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and flew extensive flight test and scientific research missions in NASA’s DC-8. He flew science and support missions to the North Pole, Antarctica, New Zealand, Japan, Russia, Europe and Central and South America, and supported numerous other projects as a safety and photo chase pilot.

During his military career, Asher served as an instructor at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona and at the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, which he also attended as a member of Class 98B. He was the commander of the 419th Flight Test Squadron and director of the Bomber Combined Test Force at Edwards and was a program manager and chief of low observables at the B-2A System Program Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. In 2003, he set 25 world speed records in the B-1B.

Education

Asher is a 1988 Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with a bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering. Asher received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2003 from Fresno State University, California, where he graduated with honors and was awarded the Dean’s Medal.

Honors

Asher is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and his honors include the Meritorious Service Medal, Aerial Achievement Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award and Antarctic Service Medal.