WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. - A request to honor one of the Eastern Shore’s most accomplished aerospace leaders is facing growing opposition from people who say changing the Wallops name could erase an important piece of local history.
The Accomack County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution July 15 asking NASA to "honor A. Thomas Young for his distinguished service by renaming the Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, the A. Thomas Young Space Flight Facility."
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, Accomack County Supervisor Jeff Parks clarified that the renaming would only apply to the launch complex on Wallops Island and not the entire Wallops Flight Facility campus.
Young, a Wachapreague native, built a decades-long career in the nation’s space program and aerospace industry.
Young began working for NASA in 1961 at Langley Research Center. He later played a role in the Lunar Orbiter program, which photographed much of the moon’s surface and helped identify potential landing sites for the Apollo missions.
Young also held leadership positions with NASA’s Viking Mars program, served as director of NASA’s Planetary Program and later led the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. He eventually entered the private aerospace industry, holding executive positions with Martin Marietta and Lockheed Martin.
Opponents of the proposed name change say they do not dispute those accomplishments. Prior to Parks' clarification, however, the several Accomack County locals feared the whole of Wallops Flight Facility would see a name change.
Former Accomack County Supervisor Ron Wolff has helped organize a petition calling on county leaders to reconsider the resolution.
“Again, very accomplished. A true leader in the aerospace industry. But he never worked at Wallops,” Wolff said.
Signs reading “Keep Wallops Wallops” have also appeared around the area as opponents encourage people to attend the Accomack County Board of Supervisors meeting on Aug. 19.
Wolff, who previously served on the board for 20 years, has also criticized how the resolution was handled. He said he believes the public should have had an opportunity to weigh in before supervisors voted.
Jack Krieger, whose father Robert L. Krieger played an early leadership role at Wallops, expressed a similar concern.
“We had no choice. No opportunity to speak before they put it on the consent agenda and approved it,” Krieger said.
Krieger said Young deserves recognition for his aerospace career, but believes there are other ways to provide it without diminishing the Wallops name.
“He deserves some sort of recognition. But we just don’t believe we should diminish the Wallops position and the ability to recognize him. There’s got to be another appropriate way to do that,” Krieger said.
Wolff suggested naming a bridge, building or launch pad after Young instead.
Not everyone connected to Wallops views the proposal as an all-or-nothing issue.
Les Bowman, who has worked at Wallops since 2007, told WBOC the Wallops name carries tremendous meaning locally, but said he believes the facility is sometimes overlooked nationally. Bowman said he holds mixed feelings toward the idea of changing Wallops.
Bowman said that if a naming change does move forward, he would like to see a name with a strong connection to the facility itself. He also suggested creating a distinction between the main base and the launch area.
Under that approach, Bowman said the main base could remain the “Wallops Flight Facility,” while the island could potentially become the “A. Thomas Young Launch Facility.”
“Wallops is a facility full of some of the most amazing people I’ve got to know in my life,” Bowman said in a statement. “Couldn’t have been more blessed to be a small part of this facility.”
NASA has not indicated whether it supports the county’s request.
In a statement to WBOC, a NASA spokesperson said the agency is aware of the Accomack County resolution.
“NASA has an established process for any formal request considering the naming of major initiatives, and this process extends to our facilities,” the spokesperson said. “We believe in a fair and thorough evaluation to ensure that any renaming aligns with our agency’s values and principles.”
The Wallops name predates the space program by centuries. NASA’s history of the facility says Wallops Island received its name after the land was granted to John Wallop in the 1600s.
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, NASA’s predecessor, established a rocket launch site on Wallops Island in 1945. The site went through several official names before becoming the Wallops Flight Facility in 1981.
Since then, Wallops has become one of the Eastern Shore’s most recognizable institutions, supporting rocket launches, scientific research and other aerospace operations.
For Wolff and others opposing the county resolution, that history is exactly why they believe the name should remain.
“Wallops is part of the Eastern Shore history,” Wolff said. “You know, it’s not some fly by night thing that, you know, just happened. It’s been instilled in people.”
Opponents plan to bring that message to the Aug. 19 Board of Supervisors meeting, where Wolff and Krieger say they hope county leaders will rescind the resolution and consider another way to recognize and honor Young.
This article has been updated to reflect the clarification from Supervisor Jeff Park that the name change would only apply to the launch complex on Wallops Island and not the entirety of Wallops Flight Facility.
