Kenny Kaly Magana

NASA Langley Research Center

May 11, 2023,

The virtual field trip I took was at NASA Langley Research Center and they have many places to

look around and learn about their history and what they do. The first place I visited and now my

all-time favorite with the history behind it, was The Katherine G. Johnson Computational

Research Facility (CRF). It’s a state-of-the-art facility that enables innovative research and

development supporting NASA Langley Research Center’s 20-year revitalization. The building

was also named after Katherine G. Johnson who was the first black American mathematician

whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the

first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. There wasn’t much to see in the building but there

were other buildings with interesting research and engineering happening, like the Integrated

Engineering Services Building. The Integrated Engineering Services Building is a two-story,

134,000-square-foot building mixed-use facility that houses the engineering collaborating

spaces, offices, a multi-media production suite, a full-service cafeteria as well as a training

center, theater, and rooms for meetings and conferences large and small.

The NASA Langley Research Center was very interesting in the many research and engineering

they made with their planes, spaceships, and the history of their work. It was also interesting that

before NASA was formed, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was

started by President Woodrow Wilson to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems

of flight. Another was about The X-15 aircraft making a total of 199 flights over a period of
nearly 10 years from 1959 to 1968. It set unofficial world speed and altitude records of 4,520

mph (Mach 6.7) and 354,200 feet. The information gained from the highly successful program

contributed to the development of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft and the Space

Shuttle program.

Current Article

By Luice Aubourg, Agence France-Presse

11.10.22

Why NASA wants to go back to the moon

On September 12, 1962, then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy informed the public of his

plan to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. It was the height of the Cold War and

America needed a big victory to demonstrate its space superiority after the Soviet Union had

launched the first satellite and put the first man in orbit. Sixty years on they decided to launch the

first mission of its return program to the moon. The reason for that is that NASA wants to

develop a sustainable human presence on the moon, with missions lasting several weeks. While

the Apollo missions brought back to Earth nearly 400 kilograms of lunar rock, new samples will

make it possible to further deepen our knowledge of this celestial object and its formation.