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.jpg) Aerial view of the Langley Research Center in December 2011 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1917 |
| Preceding agency |
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| Jurisdiction | U.S. Federal Government |
| Headquarters | Hampton, Virginia, U.S. |
| Employees | 1,821 (2017) |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | NASA |
| Website | nasa |
| Map | |
 Map of NASA Langley Research Center | |
| Footnotes | |
| [1][2][3] | |
TheLangley Research Center (LaRC orNASA Langley), located inHampton, Virginia, near theChesapeake Bay front ofLangley Air Force Base, is the oldest ofNASA'sfield centers.[1] LaRC has focused primarily onaeronautical research but has also tested space hardware such as theApollo Lunar Module. In addition, many of the earliest high-profile space missions were planned and designed on-site. Langley was also considered a potential site for NASA'sManned Spacecraft Center prior to the eventual selection ofHouston, Texas.[4]
Established in 1917 by theNational Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the research center devotes two-thirds of its programs to aeronautics and the rest tospace. LaRC researchers use more than 40wind tunnels to study and improveaircraft andspacecraft safety, performance, and efficiency. Between 1958 and 1963, when NASA (the successor agency to NACA) startedProject Mercury, LaRC served as the main office of theSpace Task Group.
In September 2019, after previously serving as associate director and deputy director, Clayton P. Turner was appointed director of NASA Langley.[3]
After U.S.-German relations had deteriorated from neutral to hostile around 1916, the prospect ofU.S. war entry became possible. On February 15, 1917, the newly establishedAviation Week warned that theU.S. military aviation capability was less than what was operating in theEuropean war.[5] PresidentWoodrow Wilson sentJerome Hunsaker to Europe to investigate, and Hunsaker's report prompted Wilson to command the creation of the nation's first aeronautics laboratory, which became NASA Langley.[6]
In 1917, less than three years after it was created, theNACA established theLangley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory onLangley Field. BothLangley Field and the Langley Laboratory are named after aviation pioneerSamuel Pierpont Langley.[7] TheAviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps had established a base there earlier that same year. The first research facilities were in place and aeronautical research was started by 1920. Initially, the laboratory included four researchers and 11 technicians.[8]
Langley Field and NACA began parallel growth as air power proved its utility duringWorld War I. The center was originally established to explore the field of aerodynamic research involving airframe and propulsion engine design and performance. In 1934 the world's largest wind tunnel was constructed at Langley Field with a 30-by-60-foot (9.1 m × 18.3 m) test section; it was large enough to test full-scale aircraft.[9][10] It remained the world's largest wind tunnel until the 1940s, when a 40-by-80-foot (12 m × 24 m) tunnel was built at NASA'sAmes Research Center in California.[11]
TheWest Area Computers wereAfrican American, femalemathematicians who worked ashuman computers at the Langley Research Center from 1943 through 1958.[12] The West Computers were originally subject to Virginia'sJim Crow laws and got their name because they worked at Langley's West Area, while the white mathematicians worked in the East section.[13]
Early in 1945, the center expanded to include rocket research, leading to the establishment ofa flight station atWallops Island, Virginia. A further expansion of the research program permitted Langley Research Center to orbit payloads, starting with NASA'sExplorer 9balloon satellite in mid-February 1961. As rocket research grew, aeronautics research continued to expand and played an important part when subsonic flight was advanced and supersonic and hypersonic flight were introduced.[citation needed]
Langley Research Center claims many historic firsts, some of which have proven to be revolutionary scientific breakthroughs. These accomplishments include: Development of the concept of research aircraft leading to supersonic flight, the world's first transonic wind tunnel, training the first crews of astronauts, theLunar Landing Facility which provides the simulation of lunar gravity, and the Viking program for Mars exploration.[14] The center also developed standards for the grooving of aircraft runways based on a previous British design used atRonald Reagan Washington National Airport.[15]Grooved runways reduceaquaplaning which permits better grip by aircraft tires in heavy rain. This grooving is now the international standard for all runways around the world.
Langley was also a contender for the site ofNASA Mission Control, prior to the eventual selection of Houston, due to Langley's prominence with NASA at the time, the large existing aerospace industry already present in the Hampton Roads region, and the proximity to Washington, D.C. The selection of Houston actually took many higher-ups at Langley by surprise and caused some lingering controversy in the surrounding area over the loss and transfer of so many jobs to Houston. Though they had lost out on the Manned Spacecraft Center, Langley still played an important role in conducting research and training during the Apollo Program.[4]
Langley Research Center performs critical research on aeronautics, includingwakevortex behavior,fixed-wing aircraft,rotary wing aircraft,aviation safety,human factors andaerospace engineering. LaRC supported the design and testing of thehypersonicX-43, which achieved aworld speed record of Mach 9.6 (11,800 km/h; 7,310 mph). LaRC assisted the NTSB in the investigation of the crash ofAmerican Airlines Flight 587.[16][17]
Work began in July 2011 to remove the 1940s era 16 feet (4.9 m) transonic wind tunnel. The facility supported development and propulsion integration research for many military aircraft including all fighters since 1960 (F-14,F-15,F-16,F-18 and theJoint Strike Fighter) but had been inactive since 2004.[18] Langley retained transonic wind tunnel testing capabilities facilities in theNational Transonic Facility, a high pressure, cryogenically cooled 8.2 feet (2.5 m) closed loop wind tunnel.[19]
LaRC also houses a large collection of various inexpensive plastic reformation machines. These machines are used in thefreeform fabrication department for faster timing, better precision, and larger quantities of low-cost toys,model, and industrial plastic parts. The fabrication of plastic parts is similar to the EBF³ process but with a thin, gratedheating element as its melting apparatus. Both are run by CAD data and deal with various freeform fabrication of raw materials.
Since the start ofProject Gemini, Langley was a center for training ofrendezvous in space. In 1965, Langley opened theLunar Landing Research Facility for simulations of Moon landings with a mockApollo Lunar Module suspended from a gantry over a simulated lunar landscape. There was experimental work on someLunar Landing Research Vehicles (LLRV).
Langley Research Center supported NASA's mission with the designing of a spacecraft for a landing on Mars. (see theMars Exploration Rover.)
Langley Research Center conductsEarth science research to support NASA's mission.[20]
LRC scientists and engineers have won theCollier Trophy 5 times, listed below.
NASA Langley, founded in 1917, is the Nation's first civilian aeronautical research facility and NASA's oldest field center.
Clayton Turner is the Director of NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Turner has served the agency for more than 29 years. He has held several roles at NASA Langley, including systems engineer, Chief Engineer, Engineering Director, Associate Center Director, and Deputy Center Director.
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37°05′33″N76°22′57″W / 37.0925°N 76.3825°W /37.0925; -76.3825
