NACA staff members queue up in the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory cafeteria in August 1952. The cafeteria originally opened in November 1942 inside the south end of the Engine Research Building. A non-profit Exchange was established to handle the finances, while Helen Thompson, a German born pastry cook, ran the day-to-day operations. Employees could also purchase her bakery to take home with them. Services were expanded to include a lunch counter and a food cart that ferried meals to the facilities. By the end of World War II the cafeteria was serving nearly 1600 meals daily in a space designed for half of that. In 1951 a new wing was added to the Utilities Building to accommodate an expanded cafeteria, seen in this photograph. In the mid-1960s an auxiliary unit was built in the new Development Engineering Building located across Brookpark Road.

PBOW - PLUM BROOK ORDNANCE WORKS CAFETERIA - c1944

Ames Facility Aerials: N-235 cafeteria

Former Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana speaks to NASA employees and other personnel at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Cabana retired in December 2023 after serving as the center director for 13 years.

NASA videographer Jacob Shaw shares a moment with his constant companion during a break in the cafeteria at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on May 21, 2025. Shaw recently earned first place in NASA’s 2024 Videographer of the Year Awards – documentation category – for his film, “Reflections,” which chronicles the 2024 Airborne Science mission PACE-PAX – short for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment.

The Steam Plant at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory supplies steam to the major test facilities and office buildings. Steam is used for the Icing Research Tunnel's spray system and the Engine Research Building’s desiccant air dryers. In addition, its five boilers supply heat to various buildings and the cafeteria. Schirmer-Schneider Company built the $141,000 facility in the fall of 1942, and it has been in operation ever since.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg speaks with NASA employees and other personnel during a meet-and-greet at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. The session was a chance to meet with the Crew-6 astronauts and celebrate the recent retirement of former center director Bob Cabana who held the position for 13 years.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg speak with current Kennedy Space Center Director Janet Petro and former center director Bob Cabana at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. The session was a chance for employees and other personnel to meet with the Crew-6 astronauts and celebrate the recent retirement of Cabana who held the position for 13 years.

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016. The Administration Building of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Building 180) is pictured in January 1965. What appears as a parking lot in this photograph later becomes "The Mall", a landscaped open-air gathering place. A small security control post can be seen at the left of the 1965 image. And Building 167, one of the lab's cafeterias, is on the right. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21121

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronaut Stephen Bowen talks with former Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana and Exploration Ground Systems manager Shawn Quinn at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Employees met Crew-6 astronauts and celebrated Cabana who retired as the center director in December after serving in the position for 13 years.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts Warren “Woody” Hoburg and Stephen Bowen speak to NASA employees and other personnel on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Not only could employees meet Crew-6 astronauts, but it was also an opportunity celebrate the recent retirement of previous center director Bob Cabana who held the position for 13 years.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts Warren “Woody” Hoburg and Stephen Bowen speak with Kennedy Space Center director Janet Petro during a meet-and-greet at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. The astronauts present a plaque to Petro commemorating the agency’s sixth rotational crew mission to the to the International Space Station in partnership with SpaceX.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts Warren “Woody” Hoburg and Stephen Bowen speak to NASA employees and other personnel on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Attendees met Crew-6 astronauts and celebrated the recent retirement of previous center director Bob Cabana who held the position for 13 years.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts Warren “Woody” Hoburg and Stephen Bowen talk with former Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Employees met the Crew-6 astronauts and celebrated Cabana who retired as the center director in December after serving in the position for 13 years.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts Warren “Woody” Hoburg and Stephen Bowen pose for a photo with a NASA employee and former Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana during a meet-and-greet at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. The session was a chance for employees and other personnel to meet with the Crew-6 astronauts and celebrate the recent retirement of Bob Cabana who held the position for 13 years.

Former Kennedy Space Center director Bob Cabana speaks with Exploration Ground Systems manager Shawn Quinn at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Employees and other attendees gathered to celebrate Cabana’s retirement from Kennedy after he served as the center director for 13 years.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg present a plaque commemorating the agency’s Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station to Kennedy Space Center director Janet Petro during a meet-and-greet at the agency’s Central Campus Headquarters cafeteria at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Employees and other personnel got the chance to meet with the Crew-6 astronauts and celebrate the recent retirement of Bob Cabana, who was Kennedy’s Center Director for 13 years before retiring in December 2023.

The NACA’s Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory’s baseball team photographed with director Raymond Sharp. The Exchange, which operated the non-profit cafeteria, sponsored several sports teams that participated in local leagues. The laboratory also had several intramural sports leagues. The baseball team, seen here in 1943, was suspended shortly thereafter as many of its members entered the military during World War II. The team was reconstituted after the war and became somewhat successful in the Class A Westlake League. After winning the championship in 1949 and 1950, the team was placed in the more advanced Middleberg League where they struggled.

A view of the cafeteria area inside the new headquarters building on April 3, 2019, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The newly constructed facility anchors the multi-user spaceport’s Central Campus. More than 500 civil service and contractor employees will be based in the 200,000-square-foot building. The facility earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold designation. Features include LED lighting throughout, along with occupancy sensors to turn off unneeded lights; windows, screens and shades designed to maximize natural light; chilled beam HVAC technology reducing the need for ductwork, and more.

This Shuttle/Gantry mockup and Post Show Dome anchor the northeast corner of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The Astronaut Memorial is located just above. Sprawling across 70 acres on Florida's Space Coast, the complex is located off State Road 405, NASA Parkway, six miles inside the Space Center entrance. The building at the upper left is the Theater Complex. Other exhibits and buildings on the site are the Center for Space Education, Cafeteria, Space Flight Exhibit Building, Souvenir Sales Building, Spaceport Central, Ticket Pavilion and Center for Space Education

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center, shown in this aerial view looking south, sprawls across 70 acres on Florida's Space Coast , and is located off State Road 405, NASA Parkway, six miles inside the Space Center entrance. SR 405 can be seen at the bottom of the photo. Just above the roadway, from left can be seen the Shuttle/Gantry mockup; the Post Show Dome; the Astronaut Memorial; and to the far right, the Center for Space Education. Behind the Memorial are a cluster of buildings that include the Theater Complex, Cafeteria, Space Flight Exhibit Building, Souvenir Sales Building, Spaceport Central, and Ticket Pavilion. At the upper right are various rockets that have played a significant role in the growth of the space program.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center, shown in this aerial view looking northwest, sprawls across 70 acres on Florida's Space Coast and is located off State Road 405, NASA Parkway, six miles inside the Space Center entrance. SR 405 can be seen at the top of the photo (left to right). Just below the roadway, from left, can be seen the Center for Space Education, the Theater Complex, Astronaut Memorial, the Post Show Dome, and Shuttle/Gantry mockup. In front of the theater complex are a cluster of buildings that include the Cafeteria, Space Flight Exhibit Building, Souvenir Sales Building, Spaceport Central, and Ticket Pavilion. At the left of the complex are various rockets that have played a significant role in the growth of the space program. Beyond the roadway can be seen the Banana River.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Astronaut Leland Melvin talks to students in the cafeteria at Gainesville Elementary School, a NASA Explorer School in Gainesville, Ga. Melvin joined Jim Jennings, deputy associate administrator for Institutions and Asset Management at NASA Headquarters, on the visit to the school to share the new vision for space exploration with the next generation of explorers. Melvin talked about the importance of teamwork and what it takes for mission success. Also visiting was KSC Deputy Director Woodrow Whitlow Jr., who talked with students about our destiny as explorers, NASA’s stepping stone approach to exploring Earth, the Moon, Mars and beyond, how space impacts our lives, and how people and machines rely on each other in space.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Astronaut Leland Melvin joins students in the cafeteria at Gainesville Elementary School, a NASA Explorer School in Gainesville, Ga. Melvin joined Jim Jennings, deputy associate administrator for Institutions and Asset Management at NASA Headquarters, on the visit to the school to share the new vision for space exploration with the next generation of explorers. Melvin talked about the importance of teamwork and what it takes for mission success. Also visiting was KSC Deputy Director Woodrow Whitlow Jr., who talked with students about our destiny as explorers, NASA’s stepping stone approach to exploring Earth, the Moon, Mars and beyond, how space impacts our lives, and how people and machines rely on each other in space.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, shown in this aerial view looking south, sprawls across 70 acres on Florida's Space Coast. It is located off State Road 405, NASA Parkway, six miles inside the Space Center entrance. SR 405 can be seen at the bottom of the photo. Just above the roadway, from left, can be seen the Shuttle/Gantry mockup, the Post Show Dome, the Astronaut Memorial, and to the far right, the Center for Space Education. Behind the Memorial are a cluster of buildings that include the Theater Complex, Cafeteria, Space Flight Exhibit Building, Souvenir Sales Building, Spaceport Central, and Ticket Pavilion. At the upper right of the site is a display of rockets that have played a significant role in the growth of the space program. Parking lots span the width of the complex on the south side.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, shown in this aerial view looking east, sprawls across 70 acres on Florida's Space Coast. It is located off State Road 405, NASA Parkway, six miles inside the Space Center entrance. SR 405 can be seen at the top left of the photo. In the foreground is the display of rockets that have played a significant role in the growth of the space program. Just above that, left to right, can be seen the Theater Complex, Space Flight Exhibit Building and Spaceport Central. Other buildings clustered at the center are the Cafeteria, Souvenir Sales Building, and Ticket Pavilion. To the left of the Theater Complex are the Astronaut Memorial, the Post Show Dome, and the Shuttle/Gantry mockup. Not seen in the photo is the Center for Space Education.

Research Support Building

Research Support Building

Research Support Building

Research Support Building

Research Support Building

Research Support Building

Research Support Building

Research Support Building

Research Support Building

Research Support Building

Tori Williams, of Brownie Girl Scout Troop 313, builds her own `stomp rocket' with the help of adult chaperone Pamela Cottrell. The two, of Gulfport, participated in NASA Brownie Day on Oct. 13 at Stennis Space Center. They were among nearly 200 members of Brownie Girl Scout Troops within the Gulf Pines Council who took part in the day of educational activities at SSC. Brownie Day used NASA curriculum support materials to teach about the sun and its significance in our solar system. In addition to building and launching their own model rockets, the girls toured the center's portable Starlab planetarium; viewed demonstrations about living and working in space; played games of `Moon Phasers' that teach about the rotation of the moon around the earth; made bracelets with ultraviolet-sensitive beads; and other activities that celebrated Earth's very own star. They also toured StenniSphere and were able to earn their Earth and Sky and Space Explorer `Try-Its.'