Langley History

Langley History

Humans had dreamed of soaring like birds for centuries, but only since 1903 has science made it possible.

In 1917 -- just fourteen years after the Wright Brothers made their first historic powered flight -- the United States decided to establish the first civilian laboratory dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of flight. It was on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay in Hampton, Va.

"Just prior to the first world war, Jerome Hunsaker was sent by President Wilson to look at aeronautics in Europe," said Ed Kilgore, a NASA employee from 1944-1982. "We had about 30 airplanes at that time. Russia, England, Germany had over 1,000. Hunsaker came back telling this sad story. On that basis Wilson signed an order that we should form an aeronautical laboratory within an overnight boat or train ride from Washington, D.C. Langley Field fit that criteria."








"What Langley gave to this group was a bunch of people who were expert in what they did and way ahead of their time," said Kilgore who helped pull together space activities at Langley.




Historical Videos

The NASA Cultural Resources channel is a repository of videos, mostly test films that have been scanned to digital format. The channel is part of our Cultural Resource Management (CRM) of archaeological and architectural resources of historic significance. NASA's CRM Program includes public outreach and education to highlight NASA's historically significant contributions to science, aeronautics, technology and space exploration.

› NASA Langley CRGIS on YouTube

Every NASA center has contributed in some way to the advancement of aeronautics and space exploration. Historically documenting their contributions is extremely important as it is a continuous process and almost endless flow of information.

Contact: Mary.E.Gainer@nasa.gov

NASA Homepage: www.nasa.gov

Historic Homepage: http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/historic/

Page Last Updated: September 30th, 2013
Page Editor: Bob Allen