SPACE HISTORY: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Became NASA 59 Years Ago
By Space Coast Daily // October 1, 2017
NACA was established in March of 1915
NASA HISTORY – September 30, 1958 was the last day of operations of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
The NACA was established in March of 1915 to regain leadership in aeronautics.
Although powered controlled flight was first perfected in the United States, by the time of World War I the U.S. had fallen far behind European capabilities.
Starting with a tiny $5,000 budget and no paid staff, the NACA went on to develop many aeronautical breakthroughs and helped give allied aircraft a critical edge in performance during World War II.
By the late 1950s the NACA was already transforming itself into an aerospace research organization and it was the logical choice on which to build NASA in 1958.
On October 1, 1958, the NACA’s 7,500 employees went to work for their new organization, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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