Ellington Airport

Ellington Field was established by the Army Air Service on May 21st, 1917, as part of the WWI efforts. Aviation was in its early stages at the time. It was named after 1st Lt. Eric Ellington, a US Army aviator who was killed in a plane crash in 1913. It was created as a training facility and is one of the only airbases built for WWI still in use today. It was annexed by the City of Houston in the late 1960s. In 2009 Ellington Field was renamed Ellington Airport. In 2015, the FAA granted Ellington Airport a Launch Site License, making it the 10th commercial spaceport in the US. This was done due to a partnership with the Sierra Nevada Corporation, by which its Dream Chaser space plane would be able to land on site. In 2018, $18.8 million in funding was approved to improve water, wastewater, streets, communications facilities, and electrical power distribution facilities on site. The Lone Star Flight Museum was moved from the Scholes International Airport in Galveston, Texas, to Ellington in 2017. A new facility was built on site, which houses the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame, airworthy and static aircraft, training centers, and administrative space.

The airport is located 17 miles southeast of downtown Houston. 

• The airport supports the operations of the US military, NASA, and general aviation tenants. 
• Many of the astronauts from the world-famous Johnson Space Center receive their space training at Ellington. 
• There is no scheduled commercial passenger service at Ellington. There were daily regional services between Ellington and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport between 1990 and 2004. 
• Ellington is home to the annual Wings Over Houston Airshow. 
• There are three runways: 17R/35L, 9,001 by 150 feet, 4/22, 8,001 by 150 feet, and 17L/35R, 4,609 by 75 feet. 
• The Texas Air National Guard, the Texas Army National Guard, and the Coast Guard also have a presence on the base.