Portrait of Dr. William H. Michael, Jr.
Portrait of Dr. William H. Michael, Jr.
Smoke Flow Investigation XF7C-1 (Cowling Exhaust J.1 Type)
Smoke Flow Investigation XF7C-1 (Cowling Exhaust J.1 Type)
Christine Darden in computer room
Christine Darden in computer room
John Glenn talking with NASA Langley's  Center Directory J.E.Reid with capsule model during inspection.
1959 Inspection
Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, and tour
Ribbon Cutting
16 Foot Wind Tunnel personnel at work
16 Foot Wind Tunnel Personnel
Katherine G. Johnson at Work
Katherine G. Johnson at Work
1/8 Scale B-32 Turrets.  Test conducted in the NACA 19 foot pressure tunnel LMAL-38560 NACA document.
1/8 Scale B-32 Turrets
Members of the Langley Federal Women's Program surround  Mary Jackson in the brown suit, of the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs. Mary Jackson NASA's first African-American female engineer, and subsequent career supporting the hiring and promotion of other deserving female and minority employees.
Federal Women's Program
Framed through directional optics glass, Stanley Ikpe is latest of new engineers coming to work at NASA Langley.
New Engineer at NASA Langley, Stanley Ikpe
Gun Turrets of XP-35 Figure 92  Streamlined Martin Top Turret. B-33 Vega Turrets.  Test conducted in the NACA 19 foot pressure tunnel LMAL-38560 NACA document.
Gun Turrets of XP-35
B-32 Model Close Up. Test conducted in the NACA 19 foot pressure tunnel LMAL-38560 NACA document.
B-32 Model Close Up
Detail Shots of B-32 Turret Figure 93. Test conducted in the NACA 19 foot pressure tunnel LMAL-38560 NACA document.
Detail Shots of B-32 Turret
100' Satellite Packaging of Echo
100' Satellite Packaging of Echo
Research Model in the 7x10 High Speed Tunnel  Building 1212B 300 mph tunnel
Research Model in the 7x10 High Speed Tunnel
Boost glide model
Boost glide model
 Drawing of the 8-Foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel.
8-Foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel
Wood Mock-up of Arrow Wing Bomber to Show Wing Contours
Wood Mock-up of Arrow Wing Bomber to Show Wing Contours
Phase SB Propeller installed on F88B
Phase SB Propeller installed on F88B
 Grumman F9F-2 Panther: Originally built as a F9F-3, this Grumman F9F-2 Panther has a Pratt and Whitney J42 turbojet power plant, hence the designation change. This Panther underwent handling quality tests, serving long enough at Langley to witness the change from the NACA to NASA.
Grumman F9F-2 Panther
Vehicles and Missions Studies Charts, Space Capsule
Vehicles and Missions Studies Charts
Scale model of Mercury capsule shape A, indicating the position of the astronaut.
Mercury Project
Federal Women's Program Mary Jackson setting.  Center directors  Donald Heath, and Richard Peterson. In 1958 Mary Jackson became NASA’s first black female engineer.
Federal Women's Program
Canard model
Canard model
Multiple exposure of Rendezvous Docking Simulator. Francis B. Smith, described the simulator as follows:  The rendezvous and docking operation of the Gemini spacecraft with the Agena and of the Apollo Command Module with the Lunar Excursion Module have been the subject of simulator studies for several years.  This figure  illustrates the Gemini-Agena rendezvous docking simulator at Langley. The Gemini spacecraft was supported in a gimbal system by an overhead crane and gantry arrangement which provided 6 degrees of freedom - roll, pitch, yaw, and translation in any direction - all controllable by the astronaut in the spacecraft. Here again the controls fed into a computer which in turn provided an input to the servos driving the spacecraft so that it responded to control motions in a manner which accurately simulated the Gemini spacecraft.  -- Published in Barton C. Hacker and James M. Grimwood, On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini, NASA SP-4203  Francis B. Smith,  Simulators for Manned Space Research,  Paper presented at the 1966 IEEE International convention, March 21-25, 1966.
Multiple Exposure of Rendezvous Docking Simulator - Gemini Program
Portrait of Mary Jackson. 2017 Hall of Honor inductee.  Langley Research Center NACA and NASA Hall of Honor.  In honor and recognition of the ambition and motivation that enabled her career progression from  human computer  to NASA' s first African-American female engineer, and subsequent career supporting the hiring and promotion of other deserving female and minority employees.
Portrait of Mary Jackson
Air Bearings and Stable Platform
Air Bearings and Stable Platform
L59-3802 Nike-Cajun sounding rocket with University of Iowa payload on launcher at Wallops for flight test, May 20, 1959. Photograph published in A New Dimension  Wallops Island Flight Test Range: The First Fifteen Years by Joseph Shortal. A NASA publication. Page 698.
Nike-Cajun Sounding Rocket with University of Iowa Payload
Images take for NASA Document L-1220
Images take for NASA Document L-1220
L59-7932 First University of Michigan Strongarm sounding rocket on launcher at Wallops for test, November 10, 1959. Photograph published in A New Dimension  Wallops Island Flight Test Range: The First Fifteen Years by Joseph Shortal. A NASA publication. Page 701.E5-188 Shop and Launcher Pictures
First University of Michigan Strongarm sounding rocket on launcher at Wallops for test, November 10, 1959E5-188 Shop and Launcher Pictures
F-86 D NASA 205
F-86 D NASA 205
Local for Hypersonic Continuous Flow Facility
Local for Hypersonic Continuous Flow Facility
The Little Joe launch vehicle being readied for a test launch from Wallops in January 1960... Page 77. Photograph published in Winds of Change, 75th Anniversary NASA publication, by James Schultz. **note - see L59-5137 page 77 also. Photograph published in Engineer in Charge: A History of the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 1917-1958 by James R. Hansen. Page 389.  ...was conceived by Langley engineers Max Faget and Paul Purser even before STG (Space Task Group) was organized.
Little Joe on Launch Pad
HSC Model 154 Dyna Soar (Martin-Bell)
HSC Model 154 Dyna Soar (Martin-Bell)
More than 37,000 people registered to attend the NASA Langley open house. Starting with the Annual 5K Moon Walk Run and the talented Nils Larson, X59 pilot and Astronaut Victor Glover reunited at Langley’s hangar and hosted by Center Director Clayton Turner.
2023 NASA Langley Open House
Martin-Bell Dyna Soar I in Unitary Tunnel
Martin-Bell Dyna Soar I in Unitary Tunnel
Women Adequately Filling Posts in NACA Laboratory: Nearly 200 women are employed at the Langley Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in a limited capacity as mechanics’ helpers and minor laboratory aids on the jobs formerly handled by men, according to E.H. Derring, of the Aerodynamics Division. Many phases of the operations of various wind tunnels at the laboratory are now handled by women with experienced male supervision. Mr. Derring said, pointing out that the reading of the data indicated on wind tunnel instruments during a test is done in a large measure by women.  In addition to reading the instruments and computing and integrating engineering test data obtained from tunnel investigations, the minor laboratory aides assist in the preparation of aircraft models preliminary to testing. Women employees who will serve in the Aerodynamics Division of the Laboratory attend an orientation class for two weeks, during which they receive instruction on phases of the work they will do and their aptitudes for different types of work are evaluated in order that they may be properly placed.  More than 100 women are employed in minor laboratory apprentices, performing mechanical work heretofore done by men. These women are employed in the various shops of the laboratory.  Women in the woodworking shops are taught to operate 15 different machines in carrying out their assignments. Norfolk new paper article from 1943 by Lee Dickinson.
Women Adequately Filling Posts In NACA Laboratory
Mach number 6.9 Inlet. These negatives in jackets also: L-1958-2984.1 Figure 3b cone in NASA document L-1643 L-1958-2980.1 Figures 3a in document L-1643 declassified from Confidential
Mach number 6.9 Inlet
WS-110A "Brown Bomber"
WS-110A "Brown Bomber"
Mrs. Katherine G. Johnson at Work
Mrs. Katherine G. Johnson at Work NASA Langley
Air Force Javelin Rocket on Launcher (USAF JV-1) Wallops Model D4-78 L59-5144 First AFSWC Javelin sounding rocket ready for flight test, July 7, 1959. Photograph published in A New Dimension  Wallops Island Flight Test Range: The First Fifteen Years by Joseph Shortal. A NASA publication. Page 704.
First AFSWC Javelin Sounding Rocket On Launcher at Wallops Island.
Miscellaneous Charts, space capsule
Miscellaneous Charts
R_1982-L-06131 007
Federal Women's Program
Flat Delta Model Flying in Full Scale Tunnel (FST)  (Boiseau)
Flat Delta Model Flying in F.S.T.
Various Components of Goodyear Inflatable Airplane in Full Scale Tunnel building 643 Test 238
Various Components of Goodyear Inflatable Airplane in Full Scale Tunnel
WS-110A Brown Bomber in Unitary Wind Tunnel Low Mach Number Test
WS-110A Brown Bomber in Unitary Wind Tunnel Low Mach Number Test
Vehicles and Missions Studies Charts, Space Capsule
Vehicles and Missions Studies Charts
Lockfoam Couch
Lockfoam Couch
In July 1959, William J. O Sullivan (right standing) and unidentified engineer examine the capsule containing the tightly folded and packed 12  diameter Beacon satellite inside. Taken from NASA SP-4308 Pg. 174
12' NASA Inflatable Sphere
Federal Woman's Week, 1980 Various speakers, lecture groups, Mary Jackson in second from the left in this photo.
Federal Woman's Week, 1980
Photograph taken November 8, 1984.  Student Symposium Meeting  Mary Jackson in background.  Both Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson are women featured in the book Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly.  Man facing camera with glasses is center director Dr. Donald Hearth.
Student Symposium Meeting
Lunar Landing Walking Simulator: Researchers at Langley study the ability of astronauts to walk, run and perform other tasks required during lunar exploration. The Reduced Gravity Simulator gave researchers the opportunity to look at the effects of one-sixth normal gravity on self-locomotion. Several Apollo astronauts practiced lunar waling at the facility.
Lunar Landing Walking Simulator
Lunar landing test of LEM at Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF).
LEM at Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF).
Mrs. Katherine G. Johnson at Work
Mrs. Katherine G. Johnson at Work NASA Langley
Brown Arrow Wing Bomber
Brown Arrow Wing Bomber
Schlieren photographs of the model in 4 x 4 Foot supersonic pressure tunnel
Schlieren photographs of the model in 4 x 4 Foot supersonic pressure tunnel
RVD Model #176
RVD Model #176
Figure 3-5 for NASA Document TM-X-356
Figure 3-5 for NASA Document TM-X-356
WS-110A Brown Bomber in Unitary Wind Tunnel Low Mach Number Test
WS-110A Brown Bomber in Unitary Wind Tunnel Low Mach Number Test
Vertical model flying in Langley Research Center's Full Scale Tunnel.
Vertical model flying in LaRC Full Scale Tunnel
Adolf Busemann, the German aerodynamicist who first expressed the advantages of wing sweep in a 1935 theoretical paper, came to work at Langley in May 1947 as a result of Operation Paperclip. Photograph published in Engineer in Charge: A History of the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 1917-1958 by James R. Hansen. Page 283.
Adolf Busemann Portrait
100' Satellite Packaging of Echo
100' Satellite Packaging of Echo
FDCD Stability and Control Branch Photo.   Names, rows front to back, people left to right: Ground level: 1. Margery Hanna 2. Debra L. Livingston 3. Carolyn Grantham 4. Nell Moore 5. Katherine G. Johnson 6. Hewitt Phillips Step 1: 1. John Shaughnessy 2. John Young 3. Bill Martz 4. Charles T. Woolley  Step 2: 1. Al Hamer 2. Marion Wise (?) 3. Suresh Joshi Step 3: 1. Willard W. Anderson 2. Albert A. Schy 3. Daniel P. Giesy Step 4: 1. Hugh Bergeron 2. Claude Keckler 3. Nelson Groom  4. Ralph Will Names Given by Danial Pl. Giesy.
Stability and Conrol Branch
Vehicles and Missions Studies Charts, Space Capsule
Vehicles and Missions Studies Charts
More than 37,000 people registered to attend the NASA Langley open house. Starting with the Annual 5K Moon Walk Run and the talented Nils Larson, X59 pilot and Astronaut Victor Glover reunited at Langley’s hangar and hosted by Center Director Clayton Turner.
2023 NASA Langley Open House
E118-2587 Model
E118-2587 Model
Women Adequately Filling Posts in NACA Laboratory: Nearly 200 women are employed at the Langley Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in a limited capacity as mechanics’ helpers and minor laboratory aids on the jobs formerly handled by men, according to E.H. Derring, of the Aerodynamics Division. Many phases of the operations of various wind tunnels at the laboratory are now handled by women with experienced male supervision. Mr. Derring said, pointing out that the reading of the data indicated on wind tunnel instruments during a test is done in a large measure by women.  In addition to reading the instruments and computing and integrating engineering test data obtained from tunnel investigations, the minor laboratory aides assist in the preparation of aircraft models preliminary to testing. Women employees who will serve in the Aerodynamics Division of the Laboratory attend an orientation class for two weeks, during which they receive instruction on phases of the work they will do and their aptitudes for different types of work are evaluated in order that they may be properly placed.  More than 100 women are employed in minor laboratory apprentices, performing mechanical work heretofore done by men. These women are employed in the various shops of the laboratory.  Women in the woodworking shops are taught to operate 15 different machines in carrying out their assignments. Norfolk new paper article from 1943 by Lee Dickinson.
Women Adequately Filling Posts In NACA Laboratory
Astronauts at 1959 Langley Inspection
Astronauts at 1959 Langley Inspection
Martin-Bell Dyna Soar I in Unitary Tunnel
Martin-Bell Dyna Soar I in Unitary Tunnel
Pilots With The Vertol VZ-2 (Model 76)
Pilots With The Vertol VZ-2 (Model 76)
Space Flight Charts, Space Capsule
Space Flight Charts
Originally the Rendezvous was used by the astronauts preparing for Gemini missions. The Rendezvous Docking Simulator was then modified and used to develop docking techniques for the Apollo program. "The LEM pilot's compartment, with overhead window and the docking ring (idealized since the pilot cannot see it during the maneuvers), is shown docked with the full-scale Apollo Command Module." A.W. Vogeley described the simulator as follows: "The Rendezvous Docking Simulator and also the Lunar Landing Research Facility are both rather large moving-base simulators. It should be noted, however, that neither was built primarily because of its motion characteristics. The main reason they were built was to provide a realistic visual scene. A secondary reason was that they would provide correct angular motion cues (important in control of vehicle short-period motions) even though the linear acceleration cues would be incorrect." -- Published in A.W. Vogeley, "Piloted Space-Flight Simulation at Langley Research Center," Paper presented at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1966 Winter Meeting, New York, NY, November 27 - December 1, 1966;
Rendezvous Docking Simulator
Model being tested with helicopter.
Helicopter
Figure 3-5 for NASA Document TM-X-356
Figure 3-5 for NASA Document TM-X-356
Vehicles and Missions Studies Charts, Space Capsule
Vehicles and Missions Studies Charts
Photos of the eleven booster configurations
Photos of the eleven booster configurations
1/4th Scale Model of Apollo - Impact Structures Facility Launched from an overhead pendulum device, this Apollo spacecraft was tested in the Impact Structures Facility to determine water-landing characteristics. -- Photograph published in Winds of Change, 75th Anniversary NASA publication (page 91), by James Schultz.
Apollo Water Landing Test
Martin-Bell Dyna Soar Model B.W.V
Martin-Bell Dyna Soar Model B.W.V
Lunar Take Off Simulator: This simulator is used by scientists at the Langley Research Center ... to help determine human ability to control a lunar launch vehicle in vertical alignment during takeoff from the moon for rendezvous with a lunar satellite vehicle on the return trip to earth. The three-axis chair, a concept which allows the pilot to sit upright during launch, gives the navigator angular motion (pitch, role, and yaw) cues as he operates the vehicle through a sidearm control system. The sight apparatus in front of the pilot's face enables him to align the vehicle on a course toward a chosen star, which will be followed as a guidance reference during the lunar launch. The pilot's right hand controls angular motions, while his left hand manipulates the thrust lever. The simulator is designed for operation inside an artificial planetarium, where a star field will be projected against the ceiling during "flights". The tests are part of an extensive NASA program at Langley in the study of problems relating to a manned lunar mission. (From a NASA Langley, photo release caption.)
Lunar Take Off Simulator
Moon Lunar Orbiter-Lunar Orbiter II:  Display Transparencies Lunar Orbiter II from Washington Press Conference. Lunar Orbiter II's telephoto lens took this picture of the floor of the crater Copernicus. -- Photograph published in Winds of Change, 75th Anniversary NASA publication (page 94), by James Schultz.
Moon Lunar Orbiter-Lunar Orbiter II
L59-3802 Nike-Cajun sounding rocket with University of Iowa payload on launcher at Wallops for flight test, May 20, 1959. Photograph published in A New Dimension  Wallops Island Flight Test Range: The First Fifteen Years by Joseph Shortal. A NASA publication. Page 698.
Nike-Cajun Sounding Rocket with University of Iowa Payload
Headquarters building and spheres at Gas Dynamics.  DAO Section.  Scanned on 4/23/2018.
NASA Langley Research Center Headquarters Building and Spheres 1963
Image for NASA Document NASA-TN-D-56. Equipment Used In Investigation. Document Title:  An investigation to determine conditions under which downwash from VTOL aircraft will start surface erosion from various types of terrain  Figure 2. Equipment Used In Investigation
Image for NASA Document NASA-TN-D-56. Equipment Used In Investigation. Document Title: An investigation to determine conditions under which downwash from VTOL aircraft will start surface erosion from various types of terrain Figure 2. Equipment Used In Investigation
North American X-15 Drop Model
North American X-15 Drop Model
Modified Bell X-1 model pioneered variable-sweep studies in 1947.  Photograph published in Sixty Years of Aeronautical Research 1917-1977 By David A. Anderton. A NASA publication, page 52.
Bell X-1 Research Model on Single Support Strut in 7 x 10 Foot Wind Tunnel
Women Adequately Filling Posts In NACA Laboratory: Mrs. Doris Rudd Porter Baron handling Manometertape, Bell computer.
Women Adequately Filling Posts In NACA Laboratory
Space Flight Charts, Space Capsule
Space Flight Charts
Curtiss-Wright X-100 (VTOL) Vertical Take-Off Transport.
Curtiss-Wright X-100 (VTOL) Vertical Take-Off Transport.
Air Bearings and Stable Platform
Air Bearings and Stable Platform
Model of Winged Space Vehicle
Model of Winged Space Vehicle
L57-700 In the reentry flight path of this nose cone model of a Jupiter Intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) was tested in the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel. Photograph published in Engineer in Charge: A History of the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 1917-1958 by James R. Hansen. Page 475.
IRBM in Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel
Technicians adjust the rocket motor during the attachment of the escape tower to the Mercury capsule prior to assembly with Little Joe launcher, August 20, 1959. Joseph Shortal wrote (vol. 3., p. 33):  The escape tower and rocket motors were taken from the Mercury capsule production. The tower is shown being attached to the capsule....  The escape rocket was a Grand Central 1-KS-52000 motor with three canted nozzles. The tower-jettison motor was an Atlantic Research Corp. 1.4-KS-785 motor. This was the same design tested in a beach abort test...and had the offset thrust line as used in the beach abort test to insure that the capsule would get away from the booster in an emergency. The escape system weighed 1,015 pounds, including 236 pounds of ballast for stability.   The Little Joe booster was assembled at Wallops on its special launcher in a vertical attitude. It is shown in the  on the left  with the work platform in place. The launcher was located on a special concrete slab in Launching Area 1. The capsule was lowered onto the booster by crane.... After the assembly was completed, the scaffolding was disassembled and the launcher pitched over to its normal launch angle of 80 degrees.... Little Joe had a diameter of 80 inches and an overall length, including the capsule and escape tower of 48 feet. The total weight at launch was about 43,000 pounds. The overall span of the stabilizing fins was 21.3 feet.   Although in comparison with the overall Mercury Project, Little Joe was a simple undertaking, the fact that an attempt was made to condense a normal two-year project into a 6-month one with in house labor turned it into a major undertaking for Langley.  -- Published in Joseph A. Shortal, History of Wallops Station: Origins and Activities Through 1949, (Wallops Island, VA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Wallops Station, nd), Comment Edition.
Mercury: Little Joe launcher
More than 37,000 people registered to attend the NASA Langley open house. Starting with the Annual 5K Moon Walk Run and the talented Nils Larson, X59 pilot and Astronaut Victor Glover reunited at Langley’s hangar and hosted by Center Director Clayton Turner.
2023 NASA Langley Open House
Christine Darden with Model
Christine Darden with Model
 8-Foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel (TPT): Sample of Schlieren results Left - Mach     1.03 Right - Mach     1.20.
8-Foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel (TPT)
HSC Model 154 Dyna Soar (Martin-Bell)
HSC Model 154 Dyna Soar (Martin-Bell)
Special "space" suit for the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator located at the Lunar Landing Facility. The purpose of this simulator was to study the subject while walking, jumping or running. Researchers conducted studies of various factors such as fatigue limit, energy expenditure, and speed of locomotion. A.W. Vigil described the purpose of the simulator in his paper "Discussion of Existing and Planned Simulators for Space Research," "When the astronauts land on the moon they will be in an unfamiliar environment involving, particularly, a gravitational field only one-sixth as strong as on earth. A novel method of simulating lunar gravity has been developed and is supported by a puppet-type suspension system at the end of a long pendulum. A floor is provided at the proper angle so that one-sixth of the subject's weight is supported by the floor with the remainder being supported by the suspension system. This simulator allows almost complete freedom in vertical translation and pitch and is considered to be a very realistic simulation of the lunar walking problem. For this problem this simulator suffers only slightly from the restrictions in lateral movement it puts on the test subject. This is not considered a strong disadvantage for ordinary walking problems since most of the motions do, in fact, occur in the vertical plane. However, this simulation technique would be severely restrictive if applied to the study of the extra-vehicular locomotion problem, for example, because in this situation complete six degrees of freedom are rather necessary. This technique, in effect, automatically introduces a two-axis attitude stabilization system into the problem. The technique could, however, be used in preliminary studies of extra-vehicular locomotion where, for example, it might be assumed that one axis of the attitude control system on the astronaut maneuvering unit may have failed." -- Published in James R. Hansen, Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center From Sputnik to Apollo, (Washington: NASA, 1995), p. 377; A.W. Vigil, "Discussion of Existing and Planned Simulators for Space Research," Paper presented at Conference on the Role of Simulation in Space Technology," Blacksburg, VA, August 17-21, 1964.
Special "space" suit for the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator
Boost glide model
Boost glide model