Langley - Blog Posts
10 People You Wish You Met from 100 Years of NASA’s Langley
Something happened 100 years ago that changed forever the way we fly. And then the way we explore space. And then how we study our home planet. That something was the establishment of what is now NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Founded just three months after America's entry into World War I, Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory was established as the nation's first civilian facility focused on aeronautical research. The goal was, simply, to "solve the fundamental problems of flight."
From the beginning, Langley engineers devised technologies for safer, higher, farther and faster air travel. Top-tier talent was hired. State-of-the-art wind tunnels and supporting infrastructure was built. Unique solutions were found.
Langley researchers developed the wing shapes still used today in airplane design. Better propellers, engine cowlings, all-metal airplanes, new kinds of rotorcraft and helicopters, faster-than-sound flight - these were among Langley's many groundbreaking aeronautical advances spanning its first decades.
By 1958, Langley's governing organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, would become NASA, and Langley's accomplishments would soar from air into space.
Here are 10 people you wish you met from the storied history of Langley:
Robert R. "Bob" Gilruth (1913–2000)
Considered the father of the U.S. manned space program.
He helped organize the Manned Spacecraft Center – now the Johnson Space Center – in Houston, Texas.
Gilruth managed 25 crewed spaceflights, including Alan Shepard's first Mercury flight in May 1961, the first lunar landing by Apollo 11 in July 1969, the dramatic rescue of Apollo 13 in 1970, and the Apollo 15 mission in July 1971.
Christopher C. "Chris" Kraft, Jr. (1924-)
Created the concept and developed the organization, operational procedures and culture of NASA’s Mission Control.
Played a vital role in the success of the final Apollo missions, the first manned space station (Skylab), the first international space docking (Apollo-Soyuz Test Project), and the first space shuttle flights.
Maxime "Max" A. Faget (1921–2004)
Devised many of the design concepts incorporated into all U.S. manned spacecraft.
The author of papers and books that laid the engineering foundations for methods, procedures and approaches to spaceflight.
An expert in safe atmospheric reentry, he developed the capsule design and operational plan for Project Mercury, and made major contributions to the Apollo Program’s basic command module configuration.
Caldwell Johnson (1919–2013)
Worked for decades with Max Faget helping to design the earliest experimental spacecraft, addressing issues such as bodily restraint and mobility, personal hygiene, weight limits, and food and water supply.
A key member of NASA’s spacecraft design team, Johnson established the basic layout and physical contours of America’s space capsules.
William H. “Hewitt” Phillips (1918–2009)
Provided solutions to critical issues and problems associated with control of aircraft and spacecraft.
Under his leadership, NASA Langley developed piloted astronaut simulators, ensuring the success of the Gemini and Apollo missions. Phillips personally conceived and successfully advocated for the 240-foot-high Langley Lunar Landing Facility used for moon-landing training, and later contributed to space shuttle development, Orion spacecraft splashdown capabilities and commercial crew programs.
Katherine Johnson (1918-)
Was one of NASA Langley’s most notable “human computers,” calculating the trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard’s May 1961 mission, Freedom 7, America’s first human spaceflight.
She verified the orbital equations controlling the capsule trajectory of John Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission from blastoff to splashdown, calculations that would help to sync Project Apollo’s lunar lander with the moon-orbiting command and service module.
Johnson also worked on the space shuttle and the Earth Resources Satellite, and authored or coauthored 26 research reports.
Dorothy Vaughan (1910–2008)
Was both a respected mathematician and NASA's first African-American manager, head of NASA Langley’s segregated West Area Computing Unit from 1949 until 1958.
Once segregated facilities were abolished, she joined a racially and gender-integrated group on the frontier of electronic computing.
Vaughan became an expert FORTRAN programmer, and contributed to the Scout Launch Vehicle Program.
William E. Stoney Jr. (1925-)
Oversaw the development of early rockets, and was manager of a NASA Langley-based project that created the Scout solid-propellant rocket.
One of the most successful boosters in NASA history, Scout and its payloads led to critical advancements in atmospheric and space science.
Stoney became chief of advanced space vehicle concepts at NASA headquarters in Washington, headed the advanced spacecraft technology division at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, and was engineering director of the Apollo Program Office.
Israel Taback (1920–2008)
Was chief engineer for NASA’s Lunar Orbiter program. Five Lunar Orbiters circled the moon, three taking photographs of potential Apollo landing sites and two mapping 99 percent of the lunar surface.
Taback later became deputy project manager for the Mars Viking project. Seven years to the day of the first moon landing, on July 20, 1976, Viking 1 became NASA’s first Martian lander, touching down without incident in western Chryse Planitia in the planet’s northern equatorial region.
John C Houbolt (1919–2014)
Forcefully advocated for the lunar-orbit-rendezvous concept that proved the vital link in the nation’s successful Apollo moon landing.
In 1963, after the lunar-orbit-rendezvous technique was adopted, Houbolt left NASA for the private sector as an aeronautics, astronautics and advanced-technology consultant.
He returned to Langley in 1976 to become its chief aeronautical scientist. During a decades-long career, Houbolt was the author of more than 120 technical publications.
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NASA Weighs, Balances Orion for Ascent Abort Test
Researchers conducted mass property testing of the Orion crew module for the Ascent Abort Test-2 Friday, Feb. 16, at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The crew module, built at Langley, was lifted and rotated on its side to determine its weight and center of gravity, known as balance. To get accurate results during the uncrewed flight test planned for April 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, this simplified crew module needs to have the same outer shape and approximate mass distribution of the Orion crew module that astronauts will fly in on future missions to deep space. The markings on the sides and bottom of the capsule used for the test will allow cameras to follow the spacecraft’s trajectory as well as the orientation of the spacecraft relative to the direction of travel for data collection.
Next, it will be shipped to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston where engineers will outfit it with the avionics, power, software, instrumentation and other elements needed to execute the flight test. This test will help ensure Orion’s launch abort system can carry astronauts to safety in the event of an emergency with its rocket during launch.
Image Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman
Museum Exhibit Reveals the NASA Langley Human Computers from "Hidden Figures"
Sam McDonald NASA Langley Research Center
A new display at the Hampton History Museum offers another view of African-American women whose mathematical skills helped the nation’s early space program soar.
“When the Computer Wore a Skirt: NASA’s Human Computers” opens to the public Saturday, Jan. 21, and focuses on three women — Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson — who were illuminated in Margot Lee Shetterly’s book “Hidden Figures” and the major motion picture of the same name. Located in the museum's 20th century gallery, it was created with support from the Hampton Convention and Visitor Bureau and assistance from NASA's Langley Research Center.
“Langley’s West Computers were helping America dominate aeronautics, space research, and computer technology, carving out a place for themselves as female mathematicians who were also black, black mathematicians who were also female,” Shetterly wrote.
The modestly sized exhibit is comprised of four panels with photos and text along with one display case containing artifacts, including a 1957 model Friden mechanical calculator. That piece of equipment represented state-of-the-art technology when then original human computers were crunching numbers. A three-minute video profiling Johnson —a Presidential Medal of Freedom winner — is also part of the exhibit.
A display case at left contains a 1957 Friden STW-10 mechanical calculator, the type used by NASA human computers including Katherine Johnson. "If you were doing complicated computations during that time, this is what you used," said Hampton History Museum Curator Allen Hoilman. The machine weighs 40 pounds.
Credits: NASA/David C. Bowman
Museum curator Allen Hoilman said his favorite artifact is a May 5, 1958 memo from Associate Director Floyd Thompson dissolving the West Area Computers Unit and reassigning its staff members to other jobs around the center.
“It meant that the segregated work environment was coming to an end,” Hoilman said. “That’s why this is a significant document. It’s one of the bookends.”
That document, along with several others, was loaned to the museum by Ann Vaughan Hammond, daughter of Dorothy Vaughan. Hoilman said family members of other human computers have been contacted about contributing artifacts as well.
Ann Vaughan Hammond worked hard to find meaningful items for the display. “She really had to do some digging through the family papers,” Hoilman said, explaining that the women who worked as human computers were typically humble about their contributions. They didn’t save many mementos.
“They never would have guessed they would be movie stars,” Hoilman said.
For more information on Katherine Johnson, click here.
Credits:
Sam McDonald NASA Langley Research Center
Testing inflatable heat shields for spacecraft
Engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, are developing inflatable heat shield technology called a Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator that could be vacuum packed into a rocket, then expanded in space to allow more cargo or even humans to land on distant planets, like Mars. Here they are testing the packing of a 9-foot diameter donut-shaped test article to simulate what would happen before a space mission.
hi! i loved the in transit fics that you wrote! i'd love (if you're still taking requests) a fic with langley in it? i care her even if she's evil :')
I personally love Langley (VA - @dancingdreamer) as a character - she's written very well for in the show haha.
Thank you for my first request! Requests are very much still open if anyone has them!
Now without further ado, let's get on with the latest @intransitpodcast fanfiction!
Stand Down
It was finally over. They’d saved everyone.
Cairo and Ziggy walked the now denounced Faraday to a cell as he struggled against them, while everyone else prepared for the coming events. Everything was happening so quickly. Sputnik was finishing up repairs on the ship with a small army of engineers at their side, and Ei helped supervise progress while Alnitak tended to injuries sustained during the takeover, bandaging Halley’s broken arm ignoring her insistence that she was fine. Sawyer and Alecto were preparing to have Alecto sworn in as commander, with Solea helping them follow the official rulings on how to swear her in. After everything that had happened, Alecto didn’t want to take any chances.
Once everything was ready Alecto allowed herself to relax slightly, letting it all sink in as she mentally prepared herself to become the new commander of Eurus, and acting commander of Notos. She took a deep breath and pushed her shoulders down, a small smile lacing her features before she heard the cock of a gun, and her blood ran cold.
“Stand down Alecto” Solea commanded, her steady hand pointing the gun directly at the back of Alecto’s head.
“Langley, what are you-” Sawyer started before Solea cut him off again.
“Stand down, and surrender your power to me,”
“Why are you doing this?” Alecto asked, trying not to demonstrate her fear, her voice betraying her as her tone became slightly shaky.
“What, you thought I wouldn’t take my only chance to get back into a position of power? Don’t be stupid Alecto.”
“But you would have power with us, we agreed on running the ship together,”
“You agreed, I don’t recall agreeing to anything beyond getting rid of Faraday from his position of command.”
“Why would you risk this?” Alecto began, her voice stronger than before. “You’ve completely lost the trust of the people and put yourself in a worse position by killing me.”
“People forget.” Langley started, a slow, snide, and calculating tone lacing her voice “and after what Faraday did, I can’t imagine it would be hard to overlook some minor flaws.”
“Minor?” Sawyer interrupted, his tone anguished “People won’t forget you killed their friends and family, we won’t forget you murdered Lyra.”
“Careful.” Solea said, pressing the gun into the back of Alecto’s head “Wouldn’t want me to accidentally fire now, would we Rosario.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Really?” She asked rhetorically, knowing her finger on the trigger was enough to show the true answer. “Enlighten me to why?” she continued, with Sawyer offering no response other than a shaky breath as he frantically scanned the room for a way out of the situation.
“Exactly.” She finished, keeping the gun trained at the back of Alecto’s head.
“What do you gain by killing me?” Alecto questioned, wanting to gain any information that could save her.
“No one left to stand in my way,” She answered simply, “What? Do you really think that Flovent boy will get far without you? We’ve seen what happens when he tries to take action on his own. Even that pretty little boyfriend of his couldn’t stop him from getting his hand cut off.”
“His name is Cairo,” Sawyer said shakily “and that wasn’t Alnitak’s fault.”
“Do you really think that’s what you should be caring about right now? I have your friend at gunpoint and that’s what you focus on.” She said, disbelief lacing her voice “God you really are useless, it’s a wonder you even got this far,”
“What do you want from me,” Alecto cut in “My power for my life?”
“That’s exactly what I want.” Solea responded, “I’ll get it either way, but the method I use depends on how you respond, Alecto.”
“What makes you think you can do any better than Faraday? He had his entire ship under his control and he still couldn’t stop us.”
“I’ve learnt from his mistakes, Alecto. Amos was arrogant, he missed the blatant flaws in his ideas, only focusing on what benefited him rather than the full result of his actions, even when that assistant of his spelled it out for him. The man was far from paranoid of course, but a bit of paranoia makes for a good leader, something I, myself, lacked during my time as commander. Paranoia allows you to prepare for every eventuality, which is something being around him taught me, and something you still have left to learn Alecto. You let your guard down.”
“Because I thought this was over.” Alecto shot back “I thought we were done with this.”
“It will never be done Alecto. You made the naive decision to believe you were safe, and that nothing could get to you, but this whole thing will never be over.” Solea began, readying her finger on the trigger. “Now, do you surrender your position as Commander?”
“I will never surrender my position to you.”
“Then you’re of no use to me.”