NASA Langley commemorates 100th anniversary – From small steps to giant leaps

New Delhi: NASA Langley Research Center turned 100 years old on Monday, July 17, 2017.

Established in 1917 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and located in Hampton, Virginia, the creation of the research lab of what is now NASA's Langley changed forever the way astronauts fly, explore space and how they study our home planet.

Founded just three months after America's entry into World War I, Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory was set up as the nation's first civilian facility focused on aeronautical research. The goal was, simply, to "solve the fundamental problems of flight."

By 1958, Langley's governing organisation, NACA, would become NASA, and Langley's accomplishments would soar from air into space.

Soon, Langley became a training site for astronauts who would circle the Earth and walk on the Moon. It was also a testing site for the shuttles that would get them there.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first human to step foot on the moon and who learned how to do so by training at Langley said, "If a competition were held to determine the organization that had accomplished the largest number of advancements to aeronautic and aerospace progress, my nomination would be this place."

On the occasion of the centenary of Langley's birth, NASA has released a 45-minute documentary that looks back across the 100 years, updates us on work being done at the legendary facility today, while also taking a peek into the future.

Watch it below!