Edwards Air Force Base

Edwards Air Force Base
Near Lancaster, California in the United States
An F-35 Lightning II of the 461st Flight Test Squadron taking off at Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards AFB Show map of California Edwards AFB Show map of the United States
Coordinates	34°54′20″N 117°53′01″W / 34.90556°N 117.88361°W / 34.90556; -117.88361
Type	US Air Force Base
Site information
Owner	Department of Defense
Operator	US Air Force
Controlled by	Air Force Materiel Command
Condition	Operational
Website	www.edwards.af.mil
Site history
Built	1933 (1933) (as Muroc Bombing and Gunnery Range)
In use	1933 – present
Garrison information
Current commander	Brigadier General Matthew W. Higer
Garrison	412th Test Wing
Airfield information
Identifiers	IATA: EDW, ICAO: KEDW, FAA LID: EDW, WMO: 723810
Elevation	704.3 metres (2,311 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 05R/23L 4,579.3 metres (15,024 ft) Concrete 05L/23R 3,657.6 metres (12,000 ft) Concrete 07/25 2,438.4 metres (8,000 ft) (South Base) 06/24 1,828.1 metres (5,998 ft) Asphalt
Other airfield facilities	1x V/STOL pad
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1][2]

Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) (IATA: EDW, ICAO: KEDW, FAA LID: EDW) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is Edwards, California. Established in the 1930s as Muroc Field, the facility was renamed Muroc Army Airfield and then Muroc Air Force Base before its final renaming in 1950 for World War II USAAF veteran and test pilot Capt. Glen Edwards.^[3]

Edwards is the home of the Air Force Test Center, Air Force Test Pilot School, and NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center. It is the Air Force Materiel Command center for conducting and supporting research and development of flight, as well as testing and evaluating aerospace systems from concept to combat. It also hosts many test activities conducted by America's commercial aerospace industry.

Notable occurrences at Edwards include Chuck Yeager's flight that broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1,^[4] test flights of the North American X-15,^[4] the first landings of the Space Shuttle,^[5] and the 1986 around-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.