R/V Neil Armstrong Meet the Ship

May 2010
The U.S. Navy selected the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to operate AGOR-27, first of its new Ocean Class of Auxiliary General-purpose Oceanographic Research vessels to replace the aging Knorr and Melville. (Image by Guido Perla & Associates)

August 2012
In a ceremony at Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes, Wash., WHOI president and director Susan Avery welded her initials into the traditional first piece of steel in AGOR-27's hull, signaling the start of construction. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Joan E. Jennings/Released)

September 2012
The U.S. Navy announced that AGOR-27 would be named R/V Neil Armstrong after the former Naval aviator and first man to set foot on the moon, and that its sister ship, AGOR-28, would be named Sally Ride. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

February 2014
Workers at Dakota Creek prepared Neil Armstrong to be lowered into the water for the first time. (Photo by Gary McGrath, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

March 2014
Carol Armstrong, with other members of the Armstrong family in attendance, christened the new ship named after her late husband. (U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams/Releases)

September 2015
After successfully completing its acceptance trials in the waters near Anacortes, Wash., Neil Armstrong was officially handed over to the U.S. Navy, which then transferred operation of the ship to WHOI. (Photo courtesy of Paul Bueren, Scripps Institution of Oceanography)

October 2015
Captain Kent Sheasley guided Neil Armstrong away from the dock in Anacortes, Wash., to begin the first leg of the ship's inaugural voyage to San Francisco, the Panama Canal, and the U.S. East Coast. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

November 2015
Mike Singleton, third mate on Neil Armstrong reviewed charts of the Panama Canal prior to passing from the Pacific to the Atlantic as part of the ship's inaugural voyage. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

December 2015
Neil Armstrong arrived in Charleston, S.C., to begin installation of its general-purpose science equipment, including the main satellite antenna. (Photo by Dave Wellwood, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

February 2016
Neil Armstrong began the first of several science verification cruises designed to test the ship's scientific instruments and gear-handling capabilities in meeting actual research objectives. (Photo by Pelle Robbins, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

April 2016
Neil Armstrong arrives in its homeport of Woods Hole. Prior to arrival, during its second science verification cruise, the ship met up with its predecessor, R/V Knorr (now the Rio Tecolutla) traveling from Woods Hole to its new home in Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Kent Sheasley, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)