Boron Aerospace Museum

Boron (formerly Amargo, Baker, Borate, and Kern) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Boron is 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Red Rock Mountain at an elevation of 2,467 feet (752 m). The population was 2,086 at the 2020 census, up from 2,025 at the 2000 census. Boron is named after the element boron and is the site of the world's largest source of the boron compound boric acid. Boron is a hinterland community on the western edge of the Mojave Desert. Within a half day's drive one can view the highest and lowest points in the contiguous 48 states of the United States (Mount Whitney and Death Valley), the world's oldest tree, the bristlecone pine, and the cities of Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Boron is home to the U.S. Borax Boron Mine (35°2′34.44″N 117°40′45.41″W), California's largest open-pit mine, which is also the largest borax mine in the world.

Desert Lake is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located 2.5 miles (4 km) west of Boron, at an elevation of 2402 feet (732 m). Desert Lake's ZIP code is 93516.

Kramer (AKA Kramer Junction) is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Kramer is located at the junction of US Highway 395 and California State Route 58 3.6 miles (5.8 km) east of Boron. For many years, motorists have been frustrated at the long delays at the Kramer Junction stoplight, which interrupted the flow of traffic on CA-58. This issue was largely resolved by June 2020 with completion of the Kramer Junction bypass.

North Muroc is a former settlement in Kern County, California. It was located 8 miles (13 km) south-southeast of Castle Butte, at an elevation of 2290 feet (698 m). North Muroc still appeared on maps as of 1947.

The Kramer Hills are a small range of hills in the Mojave Desert, in northwestern San Bernardino County, southern California. They are located just south of Kramer Junction and southeast of Boron. The Kramer Hills are bisected by U.S. Route 395 passing through them. They are in a Bureau of Land Management administered area.

North Edwards (formerly, Edgemont Acres and North Muroc) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California. Situated in the Mojave Desert, North Edwards is located about 7.2 miles (11.6 km) north-east of Edwards Air Force Base, at an elevation of 2,293 feet (699 m). As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,054.

Rogers Dry Lake is an endorheic desert salt pan in the Mojave Desert of Kern County, California. The lake derives its name from the Anglicization from the Spanish name, Rodriguez Dry Lake. It is the central part of Edwards Air Force Base as its hard surface provides a natural extension to the paved runways. It was formerly known as Muroc Dry Lake.

Balls 8 is a NASA Boeing NB-52B mothership which was retired in 2004 after almost 50 years of flying service with NASA. The aircraft is famous for dropping the X-15 aerospace research vehicle on 106 of the 199 X-15 program flights.

Muroc (also known as, Rogers, Rod, Yucca, and Rodriguez) is a former settlement in Kern County, California in the Mojave Desert. It was located on Rogers Dry Lake 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Edwards, at an elevation of 2283 feet (696 m). Circa 1929, Valyermo, Llano, Wilsona, Neenach, Domino, and Muroc, were all described as "post offices that serve scattered ranches. All these communities are reached by automobile, and roads lead from the [Antelope Valley] to desert towns lying to the north and east." Muroc still appeared on maps as of 1942. Muroc's site is now on Edwards Air Force Base. After World War II Muroc served as an important test flight location; in 1947 Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Muroc vicinity. A post office operated at Muroc from 1910 to 1951. The name honors early settlers Ralph and Clifford Corum — their surname spelled backwards is "Muroc".

The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical research. AFRC operates some of the most advanced aircraft in the world and is known for many aviation firsts, including supporting the first crewed airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight (Bell X-1), highest speed by a crewed, powered aircraft (North American X-15), the first pure digital fly-by-wire aircraft (F-8 DFBW), and many others. AFRC operated a second site next to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, known as Building 703, once the former Rockwell International/North American Aviation production facility. There, AFRC housed and operated several of NASA's Science Mission Directorate aircraft including SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy), a DC-8 Flying Laboratory, a Gulfstream C-20A UAVSAR and ER-2 High Altitude Platform. In 2024, following the retirements of SOFIA and the DC-8, NASA vacated Building 703, as the continued lease of the large hangar was no longer justified or a prudent use of taxpayer dollars. As of 2023, Bradley Flick is the center's director. Established as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Muroc Flight Test Unit (1946), the center was subsequently known as the NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (1949), the NACA High-Speed Flight Station (1954), the NASA High-Speed Flight Station (1958) and the NASA Flight Research Center (1959). On 26 March 1976, the center was renamed the NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) after Hugh L. Dryden, a prominent aeronautical engineer who died in office as NASA's deputy administrator in 1965 and Joseph Sweetman Ames, who was an eminent physicist, and served as president of Johns Hopkins University. The facility took its current name on 1 March 2014, honoring Neil Armstrong, a former test pilot at the center and the first human being to walk on the Moon. AFRC was the home of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified Boeing 747 designed to carry a Space Shuttle orbiter back to Kennedy Space Center if one landed at Edwards. The center long operated the oldest B-52 Stratofortress bomber, a B-52B (dubbed Balls 8 after its tail number, 008) that had been converted to a drop test aircraft. 008 dropped many supersonic test vehicles, from the X-15 to its last research program, the hypersonic X-43A, powered by a Pegasus rocket. Retired in 2004, the aircraft is on display near Edwards' North Gate.

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. 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, test flights of the North American X-15, the first landings of the Space Shuttle, and the 1986 around-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.