A US Air Force Base located in the
Mojave Desert in Muroc,
California. Since just after
WW2, Edwards Air Force Base has been the NASA (who maintains the
Dryden Flight Research Center at the base and the military's location of choice for the testing of experimental and prototype aircraft.
Notable for the long runways made possible by the enormous dry lake beds at the base, Edwards AFB has been associated with many notable feats in aviation, including the breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1, the starting / ending point for the round-the-world flight by the Voyager, and its use as a landing field for the space shuttle.
Originaly known as Muroc Field, the base was renamed in honor of Glenn Edwards, who was killed while test flying a prototype of Northrop's flying wing at the base.