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Above the deserts of Southern California in 1947,
the American rocket powered X-1
experimental aircraft broke the sound barrier.
It signaled the future of aviation
and opened a new chapter in the history of flight.
An important part of the X-1 team
came from the NACA's Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia.
This group of research engineers and test pilots
founded the NACA's High-Speed Flight Research Station
west of the Mojave Desert,
which became NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center.
Armstrong has been home to the design
and testing of experimental aircraft since the sound barrier was broken.
Whether taking the X-15 to the edge of space,
or testing the concepts that allowed
the space shuttle to land back on Earth,
going to space and returning
has always required flight testing in the atmosphere.
The NACA's legacy
lives on today at NASA's research centers.
After more than 100 years since its establishment in 1915,
the NACA's creativity and pursuit
of the fundamental challenges of flight
in the skies above
and the space beyond, remind us,
that the first “A” in NASA is aeronautics.
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