The Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, now the core of the Langley Research Center, was a unique facility that served as the nexus of aerodynamic research in the U.S. from its beginning in 1917 to its transformation into NASA’s Langley Research Center in 1958. It achieved world renown for its variety of specialized research tools and its staff’s emphasis on practical solutions to the problems of flight.

The Langley Research Center is the nation’s first civilian aeronautical research facility. Authorized by President Woodrow Wilson in 1915, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) studied the problems of flight to find practical solutions. The NACA broke ground in 1917 for the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, which became the NASA Langley Research Center in 1958.