Ohio senators propose renaming NASA site for Neil Armstrong

September 14, 2019 GMT
FILE - In this May 12, 2012 file photo, former astronaut Neil Armstrong testifies before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Ohio’s U.S. senators want Congress to rename a NASA research facility in Ohio after astronaut Neil Armstrong. Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown introduced legislation Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019 to honor the Ohio native by renaming the NASA Plum Brook Station in Sandusky. AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
FILE - In this May 12, 2012 file photo, former astronaut Neil Armstrong testifies before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Ohio’s U.S. senators want Congress to rename a NASA research facility in Ohio after astronaut Neil Armstrong. Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown introduced legislation Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019 to honor the Ohio native by renaming the NASA Plum Brook Station in Sandusky. AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

SANDSUKY, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s U.S. senators want Congress to rename a NASA research facility in Ohio after astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown introduced legislation Thursday to honor the Ohio native by renaming the NASA Plum Brook Station in Sandusky.

Portman says he raised the idea with Armstrong in 2012, a year before Armstrong’s death. The senator says Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, wasn’t comfortable with the attention it would bring.

Portman says he has since spoken with NASA and Armstrong’s family and they support renaming the facility.

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Brown says it would be a fitting tribute given Armstrong’s contributions as a test pilot and astronaut.