History of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia

HAMPTON, Va. (WRIC) — NASA’s Langley Research Center was founded in Hampton, Virginia over 100 years ago .

NASA’s Langley Research Center is comprised of nearly 200 facilities on 764 acres in Hampton, Virginia and employs about 3,400 civil servants and contractors.

According to NASA, Langley works to make revolutionary improvements to aviation, expand understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere and develop technology for space exploration.

History of achievements

According to NASA , the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory was founded just three months after America’s entry into World War I, and was established as the nation’s first civilian facility focused on aeronautical research.

The goal of the facility was to “solve the fundamental problems of flight,” with Langley engineers devising technologies for safer, higher, farther and faster air travel.

According to NASA, Langley researchers developed the wing shapes still used today in airplane design. Within its first decades, Langley’s groundbreaking aeronautical advances included better propellers, all-metal airplanes, new kinds of rotorcraft and helicopters, as well as faster-than-sound flight.

By 1958, Langley’s governing organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, would become NASA, and Langley’s accomplishments would begin to include space.

During World War II, Langley tested planes like the P-51 Mustang in the nation’s first wind tunnel built for full-size aircraft. According to NASA, the changes made to warplanes like the P-51 decreased fuel use and increased speeds — a combination that reportedly helped win the war.

Langley engineers went on to partner with the military on the Bell X-1, an experimental aircraft that would fly faster than the speed of sound. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager piloted the X-1, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier.

By 1959, the X-15 would rocket to hypersonic speeds, traveling five times faster than sound and paving the way for manned spaceflight. According to NASA, data gathered during X-15 flights would directly contribute to the creation of the U.S. space program.

As a moon landing became America’s goal during the Space Race, Langley tackled the many challenges of spaceflight, trained astronauts, managed Project Mercury and assumed major roles in both the Gemini and Apollo programs.

Langley also led the Lunar Orbiter initiative, which mapped the moon and helped to choose the area for the first human landing, according to NASA.

According to NASA, Neil Armstrong, who was the first human to set foot on the moon, trained at Langley’s Lunar Landing Research Facility. Langley also evaluated shuttle designs, improved materials and tested landing systems crucial to all 135 shuttle missions.

Langley scientists and engineers created, built and managed a series of instruments, both on planes and spacecraft, to study the planet’s changing climate. According to NASA, Langley set new environmental science standards by collecting and archiving the data results.

In 1976, Langley led the first successful U.S. mission to the surface of Mars with the Viking 1 landing. The facility also developed a suite of advanced sensors for the Mars Curiosity rover’s heat shield.

Today, the NASA Langley Research Center continues to develop innovative technology for space exploration and the advancement of aviation. The facility also plays a role in all aspects of NASA’s missions “from concept to splashdown.”

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