United States Coast Guard Air Station Houston is a United States Coast Guard Air Station located 15 miles (24 km) southeast of downtown Houston, Texas on board the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base (JRB).

CGAS Houston operates three MH-65E "Dolphin" helicopters, patrolling an area from the Colorado River at Matagorda Bay, Texas, to White Lake, Louisiana, averaging more than 180 SAR cases a year.

[2] CGAS Houston aircraft protect the environment by patrolling the ecologically rich Gulf of Mexico fisheries area, including the fragile Flower Garden National Marine Sanctuary.

CGAS Houston's commissioning coincides with the beginning of development of Clear Lake City as a business and residential community surrounding the blossoming NASA complex, then called the Manned Spacecraft Center.

1965 AIRSTA helicopters routinely hoist Gemini astronauts, undergoing egress training from their space capsules in the Gulf during the drills.

1980 Air Station helicopter and crew deploy to South Florida to assist other Coast Guard and government units with the "Cuban Refugee Exodus."

AIRSTA weathered the storm with two helos battened down in the hangar (a third was deployed on CGC Valiant) and half the crew remaining on board.

Post storm flights assisting stranded residents, delivering food, water and medical supplies, and surveying aid-to-navigation damage, total 52 hours.

AIRSTA helos have rendered assistance following violent storms and hurricanes more than nine times since 1963, including Gulfport, MS (1969); Brownsville, TX (1978); and Corpus Christi (1980).

1700 quart-size bottles of toxic pesticide leak overboard from the containership Rio Nuquen, docked at the turning basin of the Houston Ship Channel.

The British tanker, Alvenus, leaks hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil, after it runs aground in the Calcasieu Ship Channel off Cameron, LA.

Although forecast days previously in May, sudden "microburst" thunderstorms catch many recreational boaters off guard on Lake Livingston and Galveston Bay.

Rapid response by AIRSTA helos along with other Coast Guard, Auxiliary and county rescue units resulted in not a single life being lost on Galveston Bay.

An Apex barge collides with the Greek tanker Shinoussa and runs aground off Redfish Reef and breaks open on July 29.

Air Station Houston provides multiple flights each day over a two-week period to assist Coast Guard surface teams and local authorities.

Air Station Houston responded by saving 6 lives and 2 vessels and assisting others over an 18-hour period as heavy storms spawned life-threatening seas and skies.

Oil and gas pipelines, which crossed the river, gave way, creating a massive oil/gas spill, which exploded and burned for five days.

LEGARE and the Deployed helicopter cross the Atlantic and interact with the U. S. Navy and 21 other countries during naval exercises, as well as military and Coast Guard exchanges.

2009-2013 Air Station Houston becomes Airborne Use of Force compliant and has the capabilities to stop maritime threats through use of M-14T EBR selective fire rifle and M240H machine gun.