Last March, NASA, the United States space research agency, celebrated its hundredth birthday. NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), founded on March 3, 1916, and later NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) which grew out of it in 1958, became the largest independent government agency over a hundred years, with 18 major space centers and research and test facilities across the United States.
In 1917, just over a year after NACA’s founding, the Langley Research Center (LRC) was established first in Hampton, Virginia. Langley, which became the most influential workshop for the American space program, space flight, civil and military aviation, and space research, was operating 13 years after the first powered flight with the clear goal of coordinating aeronautical research and promoting the development of American aviation technology by creating the necessary technological background, as Europe was several steps ahead in this field at the time.
The Langley celebrating its hundredth anniversary this year had three different wind tunnels operating by the mid-1920s, helping developers and manufacturers design and build faster, more reliable aircraft with greater range. From the development of wing designs still used today, to streamlined fuselages and the development of the most efficient propellers, pioneering results were achieved in almost every area in LRC’s increasingly advanced laboratories and wind tunnels. During World War II, thanks to the aerodynamic research conducted at Langley, the United States Air Force gained air superiority that fundamentally influenced the outcome of the war.
After the war, the scientists and engineers at Langley were primarily focused on breaking the sound barrier, developing all-metal aircraft, and solving the main problems of helicopters. By the late 1950s, the emerging American space program and later the announcement of the Apollo project naturally had a major impact on the Langley Research Center, with the analysis of key problems in spaceflight and Moon landing joining the center’s main tasks alongside aviation research. Meanwhile, technological issues related to civil aviation have remained continuously on the agenda, and still are today, just think of the newly relevant development of supersonic passenger aircraft. The following photo gallery provides insight into Langley’s rich history, thanks to the magnificent photographs found in NASA’s photo archives.
Early 1920s: The first wind tunnel at Langley Research Center. (Photo: NASA)1922: Using the Variable Density Tunnel (VDT) shown in the image, Langley researchers were the first in the world to begin conducting more precise wind tunnel experiments with scaled models than ever before. (Photo: NASA)In the 1920s, Langley scientists were primarily researching ways to reduce air resistance, and among other things, they successfully experimented with engine cowlings shown in the image. (Photo: NASA)In this group photo from around 1922, from left to right: Thomas Carroll, NACA test pilot, Ruth Elder, actress and pilot, Henry J. E. Reid, Langley director, and Edward R. Sharp, administrative leader. (Photo: NASA)1934: Aircraft engineers conference in the Full Scale Wind Tunnel (FSWT) (Photo: NASA)1941: One of the strangest experimental aircraft ever built, the Vought-Sikorsky V-173 Flying Pancake in the FSWT test section. (Photo: NASA)1950: Not just aircraft, but other vehicles were and are tested in Langley wind tunnels. The image shows testing of the aerodynamic properties of the experimental submarine Albacore. The Albacore shape became the standard for modern nuclear submarines. (Photo: Bettmann Archive / Getty Images Hungary)A Langley portrait from 1952: Kitty Joyner, electrical engineer. She was the first female engineer at the research center.1957: Two LRC employees perform aeronautical calculations with an IBM 704 computer.1958: A wooden supersonic wing model. Look familiar? This is represented by the red element in the NASA logo.1959: Testing of the Mercury program single-person spacecraft at the Langley wind tunnel built for testing full-scale flying vehicles.1960: A scientist studying sonic booms examines a barely three-centimeter aircraft model.1961: NASA Director James Webb with an inflatable space station model created by Langley engineers in collaboration with Goodyear.1962: X-15 experimental spacecraft model in one of supersonic wind tunnels at LRC. The so-called Schlieren photo shows the air waves generated by the model.1962: Lunar rendezvous simulator in action. The image reveals that the path to the Moon landing was paved by engineers in ties and white shirts.1963: The first version of the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator in one of the LRC hangars. In this position, the test subject feet feel exactly one-sixth of their body weight, just like on the Moon.1964: The 2.6-meter diameter Explorer 24 inflatable satellite was designed by Langley engineers. The satellite studied the relationship between solar radiation and atmospheric density.1966: The plexiglass tube shown in the image was used to test how easy it would be to move in and out of an airlock in a spacesuit as part of a future space station.1966: The LOLA simulator (Lunar Orbit and Landing Approach) was used to practice lunar orbit insertion and landing.Artists commissioned by NASA created four huge Moons for the LOLA simulator. As it later turned out, the LOLA method was not very effective since it could not simulate one of the most important moments: docking in lunar orbit.Langley engineers also created terrain similar to the lunar surface for practicing lunar landings.1967: Nighttime lunar landing practice.1969: Neil Armstrong practicing landing with a lunar module model in the LRC lunar landing research facility.Large model of a supersonic aircraft in the wind tunnel, in the seventies.1975: Space shuttle model bombarded with electron radiation in wind tunnel. The test was designed to simulate the plasma surrounding space shuttles during atmospheric reentry.Interior of the 16-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel, built in 1939, renovated in 1990, and demolished in 2011, showing the massive air deflector installed.The Langley Research Center in the eighties. The huge tubes are the wind tunnels.1981: Passenger aircraft model in the LRC air vortex research laboratory.1991: A magnetically suspended space shuttle model in one of LRC low-speed (0.5 Mach) wind tunnels.2009: A significant portion of new research on supersonic passenger aircraft is conducted at Langley. The Boeing model shown in the image is planned to fly at 2.4 times the speed of sound.2009: X-48B experimental aircraft wind tunnel test.2011: In the spirit of economic and scientific rationalization, several legendary wind tunnels were demolished, including the full-scale aircraft testing facility (Langley Full Scale Tunnel, LFST).2011: Hybrid-wing aircraft model sprayed with fluorescent oil in subsonic wind tunnel, researchers observed airflow patterns on the experimental aircraft surfaces.2011: One of the Orion spacecraft water landing simulation tests in the Langley outdoor drop pool.2013: A scientist tests the SAGE III (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment) atmospheric analyzer instrument, which was later sent to the International Space Station, in the clean room at the Langley Research Center.
