The Langley Research Center National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Hall of Honor was conceived by members of the Langley Alumni Association and the NASA Langley Research Center as a mechanism to pay tribute to individuals who built exemplary careers at Langley, persevered against the status quo when required and achieved revolutionary scientific understanding and technological progress on the frontiers of the aerospace sciences.
The Hall of Honor formally recognizes those persons whose contributions have had the most sustained and far-reaching influence on the leadership, direction, mission and capabilities of the NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory and NASA Langley Research Center and/or whose work at Langley enabled unprecedented and fundamental advancements in either a scientific or engineering field and made significant contributions to the United States’ aerospace industry for commercial and military aircraft and/or spacecraft.
In 1958, Mary W. Jackson became NASA’s first black female engineer. She was inducted into the Hall of Honor in 2017.
History
NASA Langley Unveils 2022 Hall of Honor
Famed Hidden Figure Christine Darden was one of 17 members of the 2022 class of inductees to take their rightful place in the Langley Research Center NACA and NASA Hall of Honor – the third such ceremony to take place.
From left to right: Casey Swails, NASA deputy associate administrator; Mike Waller, vice president of BL Harbert International Federal Division; Edward C. Forst, administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration; NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman; Dr. Trina Dyal, director of NASA’s Langley Research Center; Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.); Virginia Lt. Gov. Ghazala F. Hashmi; Jimmy Gray, mayor, City of Hampton; and Amit Kshatriya, NASA associate administrator, pose for a photo before cutting the ribbon to open the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, NASA’s newest wind tunnel, Friday, July 31, 2026, at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
NASA opened its newest wind tunnel, the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, Friday, providing a critical resource for the agency and its partners to test the safety and performance of future generations of aircraft, rockets, and space exploration vehicles.
Located at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the Flight Dynamics Research Facility will support advances in aircraft safety, X‑plane development, drone research, and spacecraft technology. The facility will enable both free‑flight and mounted testing of a wide range of scale-model vehicles designed to travel through an atmosphere, from airplanes to space capsules returning to Earth.
“The Flight Dynamics Research Facility is NASA’s first major new wind tunnel in more than 40 years and gives us a powerful new platform to test the ideas and technologies that will shape the future of aviation and exploration,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “America has led in air and space because we were willing to take on hard problems, challenge assumptions, and build what didn’t exist before. This facility gives the talented team at Langley, and our partners across government, industry, and universities, the tools to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and ensure America remains the world leader in air and space.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony at NASA Langley marked the start of a new chapter in flight research. Agency leaders, partners, and Virginia officials emphasized how the Flight Dynamics Research Facility’s state-of-the-art capabilities will shape the future of flight and exploration.
“The opening of the Flight Dynamics Research Facility represents a significant advancement for NASA and for the nation,” said Dr. Trina Dyal, NASA Langley center director. “By bringing modernized testing capabilities under one roof, we are enabling transformative research that will ensure the United States remains at the forefront of aeronautics and exploration.”
Built through a partnership with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the facility replaces aging infrastructure with an energy-efficient facility that reduces maintenance costs and provides the flexibility needed for future research. The Flight Dynamics Research Facility is part of a broader, long-term collaboration between the agencies, representing the fourth new building GSA has delivered to NASA under Langley’s 20-year campus revitalization plan.
“GSA is proud to partner with NASA in delivering the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, a state-of-the-art asset that will power the next generation of American dominance in aeronautics and space exploration,” said Edward C. Forst, GSA administrator. “This facility reflects what we do best: provide the advanced, expertly designed installations that federal agencies need to carry out their missions. With these new capabilities, NASA will be better equipped to test bold ideas, validate new designs, and advance technologies that will serve the nation for decades to come.”
The Flight Dynamics Research Facility combines and improves upon the capabilities of two historic NASA Langley wind tunnels – the 20-Foot Vertical Spin Tunnel and the 12-Foot Low-Speed Tunnel. The 25,000-square-foot building features a vertical wind tunnel with improved airflow, modern digital systems, and flexible testing capabilities that will allow researchers to study how aircraft, spacecraft, parachutes, and other vehicles behave during flight.
The facility’s 20-foot diameter test chamber is much larger than those of its NASA Langley predecessors, allowing for more air to pass around test models and improving data accuracy. Its increased size also allows for the use of larger, more detailed models during testing.
The Flight Dynamics Research Facility’s top airspeed of 117 miles per hour is twice as fast as the old facilities, enabling free-flight tests of heavier scale models. This will allow simulations of full-scale vehicles flying at higher altitudes – a critical capability for operations such as studying the stability of aircraft or reentry capsules coming back from space.
The facility’s wind power comes from four 750-horsepower motors, each with an integrated, 14-foot diameter, eight-bladed fan. The fan blades are made of lightweight carbon fiber, enabling rapid, precise airspeed adjustments during free‑flight tests.
The Flight Dynamics Research Facility illustrates the powerful synergy between NASA’s aeronautics and space exploration efforts, with each driving innovation in the other. The facility will drive experimental research across a wide range of flight systems, advancing the development of autonomous flight vehicles, drones, commercial and military aircraft, and X‑planes.
As NASA prepares for a sustained human presence on the lunar surface through the Artemis program and the development of a Moon Base, the facility will play a key role in testing vehicle designs for entry, descent, and landing that will help reduce mission risk and support the safe return of crews to Earth. NASA also will be able to use the wind tunnel to help design aircraft for Mars and other destinations in our solar system where atmospheric flight is possible.
With the Flight Dynamics Research Facility now open, NASA is entering a new era in flight research – one that will shape the aircraft and spacecraft of tomorrow, strengthen industry partnerships, and extend the agency’s legacy of pioneering aerospace leadership.
The facility is managed under the Aerosciences Evaluation and Test Capabilities portfolio in the Aeronautics Division of NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate.
Learn more about the Flight Dynamics Research Facility at:
NASA Science Soars During August Total Solar Eclipse
Each time the Moon covers the Sun during a total solar eclipse — darkening daytime skies and briefly revealing the Sun’s ethereal outer atmosphere, the corona — it presents new opportunities to better understand our star and its influence on Earth.
On Wednesday, Aug. 12, as the next total solar eclipse sweeps over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain, NASA-funded science teams will be chasing the Moon’s shadow with a high-altitude jet and scientific balloons to investigate the Sun’s dynamics and how the temporary darkening of our skies affects our atmosphere.
“From our unique perspective on Earth during a total solar eclipse, scientists can study the Sun’s corona in a way we can’t from anywhere else in the solar system,” said Kelly Korreck, eclipse program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The Sun impacts our daily life, satellites, and astronauts in space, and we can take advantage of this moment to advance our understanding of that influence.”
High-flying jet to record solar dynamics
Soaring in the nose cone of NASA’s WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft is a suite of four cameras to take high-resolution images of the corona in several different wavelengths of visible and infrared light. Part of an instrument developed by the NASA Scientifically Calibrated In-Flight Imagery (SCIFLI) team at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the cameras will capture at least 20 images per second, recording structures, outflows, and rapid changes in the corona during the total solar eclipse.
With these images, scientists hope to learn more about the formation of prominences (solar material that gets suspended above the Sun’s surface), better understand the corona and how it gets heated to nearly a million degrees, and investigate how material in the corona and the solar wind are related, which flows out from the Sun across the solar system.
These images of the corona and solar prominences were taken in different wavelengths of visible and infrared light by imagers aboard a NASA’s WB-57 jet during the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse. The same cameras will fly on a NASA WB-57 jet again during the Aug. 12 eclipse.
NASA / SwRI / William Ashfield
By chasing the Moon’s shadow, the jet will extend how long the cameras can observe the corona. On the ground, the longest anyone will be able to see the corona is two minutes and 18 seconds. But flying along the eclipse path at 460 miles per hour, the jet’s view of the corona will last nearly three minutes.
NASA’s WB-57 will fly at 50,000 feet, above any clouds that might obscure the view of the corona from the ground. The altitude also allows the cameras to observe some infrared wavelengths that get absorbed by the lower atmosphere before reaching the ground, and the corona only has been observed in those wavelengths a few times before.
One of NASA’s WB-57 high-altitude jets will carry a suite of cameras up to 50,000 feet to capture images of the solar corona during the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse.
NASA
The instrument, called SCIFLI Multispectral Airborne Imager, or SAMI, also flew on a WB-57 during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, providing valuable imagery and information about the corona. However, the study’s principal investigator, Amir Caspi of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, says each total solar eclipse provides new opportunities to learn more about the corona.
“The Sun is always changing,” Caspi said. “Every eclipse is different. So we could see things we didn’t see before. And we learn from each eclipse how to better observe the next one.”
Caspi’s team also is making some enhancements for the 2026 campaign based on lessons learned in 2024. For example, the team will adjust exposure times to better capture bright features that were overexposed in 2024 imagery. They will also leverage software developed since 2024 to process and analyze the data sooner than before.
The experiment is funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Low Cost Access to Space Program.
As a total solar eclipse crosses Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Spain, and Portugal on Aug. 12, 2026, some of the best views will come from 50,000 feet up, aboard NASA’s WB-57 jet. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Balloons to watch atmospheric changes
When a total solar eclipse suddenly turns daytime skies dark, our atmosphere changes in ways we don’t yet fully understand.
The NASA-supported Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, led by Angela Des Jardins at Montana State University, is sending students from several U.S. universities to Iceland and Spain to launch scientific balloons before, during, and after the eclipse to better understand those changes.
A student team from the University of Kentucky prepares to launch a ballon from Bloomington, Indiana, to take atmospheric measurements on April 8, 2024, during the 2024 Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project campaign.
Sean Bailey (University of Kentucky)
In Iceland, two teams will launch a total of 80 balloons starting 18 hours before the eclipse until eight hours afterward to study how the eclipse affects Earth’s “boundary layer,” the part of the atmosphere that touches the ground. The thickness of the boundary layer changes depending on factors such as surface temperature and moisture in the air.
Previous balloon flights during solar eclipses in October 2023 and April 2024 showed that the boundary layer collapsed, or decreased in thickness, in locations with clear skies but not where there were cloudy skies. Scientists wonder whether that will be different in Iceland in 2026. Changes in the boundary layer are driven by the day-night cycle. However, in Iceland in August, the days are long and nights are short, so the nighttime influences might not be as strong as in 2023 or 2024.
“Will this eclipse be able to collapse the boundary layer?” said Matthew Bernards, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Idaho, who leads one of the Iceland teams.
This image shows the Moon’s shadow on Earth during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, as seen from about 90,000 feet from a camera carried by a scientific balloon. Cameras carried by balloons launched from Spain will capture similar images during the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse.
In Spain, three balloon teams will launch a total of six balloons with 360-degree cameras to image the eclipse shadow from above. These balloons also will include instruments designed to measure levels of ozone in the atmosphere, which requires sunlight to form. Similar balloon experiments showed that ozone decreased during totality in April 2024. Scientists wonder whether there will be differences with this eclipse, particularly since it happens at a later time of day and during a different season.
The NASA-funded Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project will allow teams of students from across the U.S. to get a unique view of the August total solar eclipse with scientific balloons. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Follow along
While the total solar eclipse won’t be visible in the U.S., some parts of the country will be able to see a partial solar eclipse. Learn more about where to see the eclipse and how to view it safely.
by Vanessa Thomas NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This historic image — the first from the surface of Mars — confirmed that NASA’s Viking 1 lander had become the first spacecraft to touch down on the Red Planet on July 20, 1976.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Fifty years ago, NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 landers made the first successful landings on Mars, opening a new era in planetary exploration. Behind that achievement was a team at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, whose steady leadership and technical expertise helped turn an ambitious idea into a mission that reshaped how we explore other worlds.
Building the Blueprint for Mars
NASA selected Langley in 1968 to lead the massive Viking project, the first U.S. mission designed to land safely on Mars and search for signs of life. Project Manager James S. Martin Jr. set the tone from the start. He wanted clear priorities, tough engineering reviews, and the discipline to test every system until the team was confident it would perform on Mars.
A full-scale Viking model is suspended in the air at NASA Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility.
NASA
Entry, Descent, and Landing
Langley engineers faced a challenge unlike anything attempted before: slowing a spacecraft plunging into the Martian atmosphere at more than 10,000 miles per hour. So they leaned into their expertise in atmospheric entry aerodynamics, heat shielding, and parachute technology. Their work produced the protective aeroshell and heat shield, as well as the supersonic parachute. These systems didn’t come from theory alone — they were shaped by years of wind‑tunnel tests, analysis, and problem‑solving. Langley still excels at entry, descent, and landing systems today.
Science and Safety, Hand in Hand
Langley also helped create a new approach to finding safe landing sites. Teams combined images from Viking’s orbiters with radar data from Earth‑based observatories to identify regions that balanced scientific value with engineering safety — a method now standard for Mars missions.
Viking also changed how mission teams operated. Engineers and scientists adopted the sol — a Martian day slightly longer than 24 hours — to keep daily work aligned with local time on Mars, a practice still used for surface missions.
From left to right, Dr. Thomas Mutch, Brown University, James Martin, Viking Project manager; and Dr. Gerald Soffen, Viking Project scientist talk at a Viking Science Review.
NASA
A Mission Reborn: From Voyager to Viking
Viking grew out of a pivotal program shift. The earlier Voyager Mars lander concept was canceled because it was too costly and risky, relying on two large landers stacked on a single Saturn V rocket. Langley helped chart a more realistic path forward, pairing each lander with its own orbiter and using Titan IIIE‑Centaur rockets instead. The new design preserved scientific ambition while making the mission achievable.
A Legacy That Endures
Viking provided an early model for how NASA could explore the solar system: scout with orbiters, certify landing sites with real data, and land only with systems tested well beyond their limits. That “planetary playbook,” shaped heavily by Langley, provided a guide for future Mars missions like Curiosity and Perseverance.
The two landers returned thousands of images and groundbreaking data, revealing Mars as a world with weather, geologic history, and complexity that scientists are still studying today. And while no human has ever set foot on the Martian surface, Viking proved that reaching another planet — and working on it — was within reach.
As the 50th anniversary of those landings arrives, Langley’s influence is unmistakable. The center continues to advance new entry, descent, and landing technologies, and explore concepts that will support future human explorers. The same spirit that guided Viking still drives the work happening in Hampton today — steady, curious, and always looking toward the next horizon.
Famous scientist Dr. Carl Sagan, center, speaks with two other men at a Viking Science Symposium Biology Conference at NASA Langley.
NASA Pushes New Wing Design to Find Structural Limits
The 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing test article is fully installed in the Flight Loads Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. The model is part of NASA’s research to develop technologies for future ultra-efficient aircraft.
Credits: NASA/Carla Escamilla
NASA researchers recently put a new wing design, appearing long and thin with a lightweight structural design, through a series of grueling tests to find its structural limits. What they found left them encouraged about the wing’s potential, even when they pushed it past its intended limits.
The 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing (SWEET-15) test article is part of NASA’s research to develop future ultra-efficient aircraft. The design incorporates a long wing supported by an aerodynamic strut, based on NASA’s earlier Transonic Truss‑Braced Wing concept.
The research team is working to understand whether SWEET-15’s design and its new lightweight structural designs could help commercial airliners save fuel. But first, they need to understand how it behaves under the kinds of force wings experience in flight.
Lab technicians Phil Tofts, Chris McLain, and Jeff Howell and NASA engineers Erin Anderson and Richard Larson prepare the 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing model in the Flight Loads Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. The model is part of NASA’s research to develop technologies for future ultra-efficient aircraft.
NASA/Christopher LC Clark
The SWEET-15 design originated with combining five different advanced composite manufacturing and assembly technologies that enabled the novel structural design. The 15-foot-long test article was then designed and fabricated at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, before traveling to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, for testing.
Over several months, NASA engineers intentionally bent the test wing in the Flight Loads Laboratory at NASA Armstrong. Numerous strain and load sensors, including fiber-optic strain sensors, were placed throughout the structure to track how the wing responded as forces increased.
The data from the sensors confirmed the predictions made by NASA’s computer models. According to initial findings, the wing withstood the anticipated in-flight forces without issue. The results provided the team with confidence in the new manufacturing approaches and methods for connecting wing parts used in SWEET-15, which could support future efficient aircraft designs. The manufacturing approach, developed at NASA Langley used the Integrated Structural Assembly of Advanced Composites robot, aims to produce lighter and stronger composite structures for aerospace vehicles.
Lab technicians Jeff Howell, left and Chris Mount install the 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing model in the Flight Loads Lab at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, Wednesday, February 11, 2026. The model is part of NASA’s research to develop technologies for future ultra-efficient aircraft.
NASA/Christopher LC Clark
The test concluded with a deliberate test-to-failure, where engineers increased loads beyond the wing’s design limits to determine how and where it would fail. The structure ultimately failed at roughly 127% of its design limit load, with visible damage appearing near the back edge of the wing and in the upper wing cover. This element of testing provided valuable insight into how the joints connecting the wing to its main strut and a secondary one, called a jury strut, behave under forces beyond the expected flight envelope.
This marks the first time a representative composite truss-braced wing configuration has undergone this type of structural evaluation. It was made possible only through NASA collaboration across centers and projects, with researchers utilizing agency resources such as the Fiber Optic Sensing System developed to gather data on both aircraft and spacecraft.
NASA research engineer Walter Hargis regulates the 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing model in the Flight Loads Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. The model is part of NASA’s research to develop technologies for future ultra-efficient aircraft.
NASA/Ryan Kline
To prepare for the testing, engineers at NASA Langley designed, analyzed, and manufactured the wing and completed safety preparations and lab setup.
Researchers will now analyze the data collected during testing to inform future airframe designs and support NASA’s ongoing efforts to develop more efficient aviation technologies.
The work is being conducted through NASA’s Subsonic Flight Demonstrator project in the agency’s Research Technology Mission Directorate. The successful testing of multiple innovative components marks a milestone in NASA’s aeronautics research.
NASA Pushes New Wing Design to Find Structural Limits
The 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing test article is fully installed in the Flight Loads Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. The model is part of NASA’s research to develop technologies for future ultra-efficient aircraft.
Credits: NASA/Carla Escamilla
NASA researchers recently put a new wing design, appearing long and thin with a lightweight structural design, through a series of grueling tests to find its structural limits. What they found left them encouraged about the wing’s potential, even when they pushed it past its intended limits.
The 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing (SWEET-15) test article is part of NASA’s research to develop future ultra-efficient aircraft. The design incorporates a long wing supported by an aerodynamic strut, based on NASA’s earlier Transonic Truss‑Braced Wing concept.
The research team is working to understand whether SWEET-15’s design and its new lightweight structural designs could help commercial airliners save fuel. But first, they need to understand how it behaves under the kinds of force wings experience in flight.
Lab technicians Phil Tofts, Chris McLain, and Jeff Howell and NASA engineers Erin Anderson and Richard Larson prepare the 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing model in the Flight Loads Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. The model is part of NASA’s research to develop technologies for future ultra-efficient aircraft.
NASA/Christopher LC Clark
The SWEET-15 design originated with combining five different advanced composite manufacturing and assembly technologies that enabled the novel structural design. The 15-foot-long test article was then designed and fabricated at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, before traveling to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, for testing.
Over several months, NASA engineers intentionally bent the test wing in the Flight Loads Laboratory at NASA Armstrong. Numerous strain and load sensors, including fiber-optic strain sensors, were placed throughout the structure to track how the wing responded as forces increased.
The data from the sensors confirmed the predictions made by NASA’s computer models. According to initial findings, the wing withstood the anticipated in-flight forces without issue. The results provided the team with confidence in the new manufacturing approaches and methods for connecting wing parts used in SWEET-15, which could support future efficient aircraft designs. The manufacturing approach, developed at NASA Langley used the Integrated Structural Assembly of Advanced Composites robot, aims to produce lighter and stronger composite structures for aerospace vehicles.
Lab technicians Jeff Howell, left and Chris Mount install the 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing model in the Flight Loads Lab at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, Wednesday, February 11, 2026. The model is part of NASA’s research to develop technologies for future ultra-efficient aircraft.
NASA/Christopher LC Clark
The test concluded with a deliberate test-to-failure, where engineers increased loads beyond the wing’s design limits to determine how and where it would fail. The structure ultimately failed at roughly 127% of its design limit load, with visible damage appearing near the back edge of the wing and in the upper wing cover. This element of testing provided valuable insight into how the joints connecting the wing to its main strut and a secondary one, called a jury strut, behave under forces beyond the expected flight envelope.
This marks the first time a representative composite truss-braced wing configuration has undergone this type of structural evaluation. It was made possible only through NASA collaboration across centers and projects, with researchers utilizing agency resources such as the Fiber Optic Sensing System developed to gather data on both aircraft and spacecraft.
NASA research engineer Walter Hargis regulates the 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing model in the Flight Loads Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. The model is part of NASA’s research to develop technologies for future ultra-efficient aircraft.
NASA/Ryan Kline
To prepare for the testing, engineers at NASA Langley designed, analyzed, and manufactured the wing and completed safety preparations and lab setup.
Researchers will now analyze the data collected during testing to inform future airframe designs and support NASA’s ongoing efforts to develop more efficient aviation technologies.
The work is being conducted through NASA’s Subsonic Flight Demonstrator project in the agency’s Research Technology Mission Directorate. The successful testing of multiple innovative components marks a milestone in NASA’s aeronautics research.
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft reached its target speed and altitude for future community overflights for the first time during a flight on Friday, June 12, 2026. The milestone marked the first time the aircraft flew at Mach 1.4 and 55,000 feet — conditions it will fly when gathering community response data to its quiet sonic thump.
NASA/Lori Losey
NASA’s X-59 experimental aircraft reached a major milestone Friday, June 12, flying Mach 1.4 (about 924 mph) and an altitude of 55,000 feet, the conditions required for the aircraft to make future flights critical to its mission.
The X-59 still has months of performance testing ahead, but after those are complete, NASA’s Quesst mission will fly the aircraft over several U.S. communities to collect data on public perception of the quiet sonic thump it will make at supersonic speeds. Those community overflights will include flights at Mach 1.4 and 55,000 feet.
The milestone comes just days after the X-59’s first supersonic flight. That flight showed the aircraft performed as expected at Mach 1.1, but Friday’s mission conditions flight was an even more critical step for NASA.
NASA’s X‑59 eXternal Vision System (XVS) shows Mach 1.4 at 55,030 feet on Friday, June 12, 2026 during the aircraft’s first mission conditions flight, the approximate conditions it will fly when gathering community response data to its quiet “sonic thump.” The milestone marks the first time the aircraft flew at its designed speed and altitude.
NASA/Lori Losey
The X-59 was designed to fly supersonic without causing a loud sonic boom. However, for these early supersonic flights it has been accompanied by a NASA F-15 research aircraft, a traditional supersonic jet that causes booms obscuring any noise the X-59 makes. During upcoming flights, a shock-sensing probe mounted to the F-15 will gather measurements of the X-59’s shock wave signature, an early measure of its supersonic performance.
After the team conducts more tests at a variety of altitudes and conditions to complete envelope expansion, the X-59 will enter the acoustic validation phase of Quesst. During this phase, researchers will thoroughly measure the aircraft’s supersonic acoustic signature — the quiet thump it’s designed to make — to confirm it is performing as intended.
Each flight brings NASA one step closer to flying the X-59 over communities and gathering feedback that could help shape the future of commercial supersonic flight over land.
Structures and Materials, Associate Director, Research Directorate at NASA’s Langley Research Center
Martin Annett is the Associate Director of the Structures and Materials Division at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where he leads cutting-edge research in structures and materials in support of aeronautics and space missions.
He has recently served in key leadership roles as Chief Engineer and Program Manager for NASA’s Science and Space Technology Mission Directorates. From 2008 to 2021, Martin contributed to major advancements in aircraft and rotorcraft crashworthiness at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility, serving as Technical Lead for Impact Dynamics and Injury Biomechanics, Head of the Structural Dynamics Branch, and Facility Manager.
Prior to joining NASA, Martin held positions at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Orbital Sciences Corporation, and the Aerospace Corporation, where he conducted structural dynamics testing and analysis in support of missile defense systems, spacecraft structures and opto-mechanical instruments, and injury biomechanics programs.
Martin holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from George Washington University and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Minnesota.
He has authored or co-authored more than 40 technical papers and is an active member of the Vertical Flight Society’s Crash Safety Committee.
NASA’s Career Technical Education Day Highlights Technical Careers
Students participate in a hands-on robotics demonstration during Career Technical Education Day at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
NASA/Mark Knopp
At NASA, remaining a global leader in exploration and innovation includes having a skilled and dedicated workforce. Technicians play a critical role in advancing the agency’s research and missions, applying hands-on expertise across engineering, fabrication, electronics, and countless other technical fields.
To help cultivate the next generation of technical talent, NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement hosted Career Technical Education Day recently at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. One hundred high school and community college students from Virginia and North Carolina attended, eager to explore the technical career paths that help drive NASA’s work.
“Many students picture NASA as only astronauts or engineers and therefore never consider a career at NASA to be within their reach,” said Bonnie Murray, lead for the Office of STEM Engagement at NASA Langley. “Bringing students from local career and technical education programs to Langley allows them the opportunity to see technicians at work, hear the pathways those technicians followed, and understand how the skills they are developing in their related classes have a place in the NASA workforce.”
The event opened with remarks from NASA Langley’s Steve Gayle, who traced his path from an engineering technician co-op in the center’s Fabrication Division and a graduate of Langley’s Engineering Technician Apprentice Program to his current role as acting associate director. Gayle encouraged students to embrace challenges, think critically, stay curious, and create their own opportunities as they pursue their career goals.
“We need young, bright minds,” Gayle said. “At NASA, we rely on skilled hands-on professionals — technicians who operate our wind tunnels, apply their skills in our fabrication shops, and use their electronics knowledge to design, test, and build critical systems.”
Students visit NASA Langley Research Center’s model shop during Career Technical Education Day to learn about the materials and techniques technicians use to build model aircraft and spacecraft.
NASA/Ryan Hill
Throughout the day, students toured several of Langley’s world-class facilities, including the historic Landing and Impact Research Facility and one of the center’s wind tunnels. At each stop, they received a behind-the-scenes look at the spaces where NASA technicians build, test, and refine the tools and technologies that support the agency’s missions. The technicians spoke with students about their work, their career paths, and the skills needed to excel in technical roles.
Hands-on demonstrations and interactive activities lead by NASA technicians and aerospace industry partners helped students connect their classroom experience with real-world applications. Whether observing fabrication techniques, seeing instrumentation up close, or engaging with engineering demonstrations, participants experienced how STEM and technical skills directly translate into meaningful careers.
“Through events such as this, NASA seeks to prepare students for aerospace careers through experiences and investments that strengthen research capacity, build technical expertise, and expand reach in alignment with agency missions and needs,” Murray said. The event ended with a career panel moderated by NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, associate director of mission and strategy at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and former math and science teacher. The panel featured four Langley technician apprentices who shared insights into their roles and the value of strong foundational skills in technical fields.
Wyatt Healy, mechanical engineering technician apprentice at NASA’s Langley Research Center, answers questions during a career panel featuring NASA Langley technician apprentices during Career Technical Education Day.
NASA/Ryan Hill
“A basic grasp of how software, systems, and even everyday items function goes a long way as you progress in your technician journey,” said Wyatt Healy, mechanical engineering technician apprentice at NASA Langley. “When you have those fundamentals down, learning the more advanced concepts becomes much easier. It doesn’t happen overnigh but with a strong foundation, the sky is the limit.”
By connecting students with NASA professionals, facilities, and hands-on experiences, the event showcased a broad range of opportunities available in technical careers. It also underscored NASA’s commitment to building a strong, skilled workforce equipped to support the agency’s mission and tackle the challenges of tomorrow.
For more information about opportunities to connect students with NASA’s mission, work, and people, visit:
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Students participate in a hands-on robotics demonstration during Career Technical Education Day at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
NASA/Mark Knopp
At NASA, remaining a global leader in exploration and innovation includes having a skilled and dedicated workforce. Technicians play a critical role in advancing the agency’s research and missions, applying hands-on expertise across engineering, fabrication, electronics, and countless other technical fields.
To help cultivate the next generation of technical talent, NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement hosted Career Technical Education Day recently at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. One hundred high school and community college students from Virginia and North Carolina attended, eager to explore the technical career paths that help drive NASA’s work.
“Many students picture NASA as only astronauts or engineers and therefore never consider a career at NASA to be within their reach,” said Bonnie Murray, lead for the Office of STEM Engagement at NASA Langley. “Bringing students from local career and technical education programs to Langley allows them the opportunity to see technicians at work, hear the pathways those technicians followed, and understand how the skills they are developing in their related classes have a place in the NASA workforce.”
The event opened with remarks from NASA Langley’s Steve Gayle, who traced his path from an engineering technician co-op in the center’s Fabrication Division and a graduate of Langley’s Engineering Technician Apprentice Program to his current role as acting associate director. Gayle encouraged students to embrace challenges, think critically, stay curious, and create their own opportunities as they pursue their career goals.
“We need young, bright minds,” Gayle said. “At NASA, we rely on skilled hands-on professionals — technicians who operate our wind tunnels, apply their skills in our fabrication shops, and use their electronics knowledge to design, test, and build critical systems.”
Students visit NASA Langley Research Center’s model shop during Career Technical Education Day to learn about the materials and techniques technicians use to build model aircraft and spacecraft.
NASA/Ryan Hill
Throughout the day, students toured several of Langley’s world-class facilities, including the historic Landing and Impact Research Facility and one of the center’s wind tunnels. At each stop, they received a behind-the-scenes look at the spaces where NASA technicians build, test, and refine the tools and technologies that support the agency’s missions. The technicians spoke with students about their work, their career paths, and the skills needed to excel in technical roles.
Hands-on demonstrations and interactive activities lead by NASA technicians and aerospace industry partners helped students connect their classroom experience with real-world applications. Whether observing fabrication techniques, seeing instrumentation up close, or engaging with engineering demonstrations, participants experienced how STEM and technical skills directly translate into meaningful careers.
“Through events such as this, NASA seeks to prepare students for aerospace careers through experiences and investments that strengthen research capacity, build technical expertise, and expand reach in alignment with agency missions and needs,” Murray said. The event ended with a career panel moderated by NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, associate director of mission and strategy at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and former math and science teacher. The panel featured four Langley technician apprentices who shared insights into their roles and the value of strong foundational skills in technical fields.
Wyatt Healy, mechanical engineering technician apprentice at NASA’s Langley Research Center, answers questions during a career panel featuring NASA Langley technician apprentices during Career Technical Education Day.
NASA/Ryan Hill
“A basic grasp of how software, systems, and even everyday items function goes a long way as you progress in your technician journey,” said Wyatt Healy, mechanical engineering technician apprentice at NASA Langley. “When you have those fundamentals down, learning the more advanced concepts becomes much easier. It doesn’t happen overnight, but with a strong foundation, the sky is the limit.”
By connecting students with NASA professionals, facilities, and hands-on experiences, the event showcased a broad range of opportunities available in technical careers. It also underscored NASA’s commitment to building a strong, skilled workforce equipped to support the agency’s mission and tackle the challenges of tomorrow.
For more information about opportunities to connect students with NASA’s mission, work, and people, visit:
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology team that won the 2026 RASC-AL competition for their project, Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm.
Credit: National Institute of Aerospace
NASA announced the Massachusetts Institute of Technology project, Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm, as the first place winner for the 2026 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition, which challenges students to bridge gaps in aerospace technology by innovating new system concepts and prototypes.
Another team from the same university won second place overall for their project, Mars Exploration Layered Infrastructure for Operations, Research, and Advancement, while Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took third place with the Mars Pylon Network.
Empowering the next generation, the competition also supports the agency’s workforce development priorities by offering university teams hands-on experience in mission architecture development, systems engineering, and technical communication.
“The winning teams demonstrated how academic innovation can support Artemis mission goals,” said Daniel Mazanek, program sponsor for RASC-AL and senior space systems engineer, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “Their work highlights the important role student research plays in shaping future space exploration, and the results showcase how disciplined analysis can elevate innovative ideas into viable exploration concepts.”
Fourteen finalists attended the multi-day RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and gave formal presentations outlining their mission architectures, technology solutions, and supporting analysis. These discussions provided students with real-time engineering feedback, exposing them to the rigor and scrutiny applied to human spaceflight concepts under development within the agency.
Awards were presented to teams demonstrating the highest levels of technical rigor, innovation, and mission alignment. In addition to the top prizes, other awards included:
Best in Communications, Position, Navigation, and Time Architectures for Mars Surface Operations Theme: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mars Exploration Layered Infrastructure for Operations, Research, and Advancement MELIORA)
Best in Lunar Sample Return Concept Theme: South Dakota State University Sample Extraction of Lunar Elements for Network Entry (SELENE)
Best in Lunar Surface Power and Power Management and Distribution Architectures Theme: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm (ECLIPSE)
Best in Lunar Technology Demonstrations Leveraging Common Infrastructure Theme: Massachusetts Institute of Technology CLPS-enabled Highly-autonomous End-to-End isruSystem Evaluations to Build Understanding and Resilient Growth by Experimenting with Regolith (CHEESEBURGER)
Best Prototype:
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide Campus Advanced Utilization of Resources for Energy & Viability Off-Earth (Project AUREVO) University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with Leonardo de Vinci Engineering School Mining and Advanced Transformation of Regolith for Infrastructure and eXpansion (MATRIX)
“The RASC-AL program allows students to demonstrate their ability to transform innovative concepts into technically sound studies, with emphasis on technical rigor, clear communication, and systems-level thinking,” said Christopher Jones, program sponsor for RASC-AL and chief technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. “These are the hallmarks of effective engineering that we’re looking for and reflect the standards required for real-world aerospace problem-solving,”
The NASA RASC-AL competition represents a cross-agency collaboration. The competition is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace and managed by the NASA Tournament Lab, part of the agency’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology team that won the 2026 RASC-AL competition for their project, Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm.
Credit: National Institute of Aerospace
NASA announced the Massachusetts Institute of Technology project, Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm, as the first place winner for the 2026 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition, which challenges students to bridge gaps in aerospace technology by innovating new system concepts and prototypes.
Another team from the same university won second place overall for their project, Mars Exploration Layered Infrastructure for Operations, Research, and Advancement, while Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took third place with the Mars Pylon Network.
Empowering the next generation, the competition also supports the agency’s workforce development priorities by offering university teams hands-on experience in mission architecture development, systems engineering, and technical communication.
“The winning teams demonstrated how academic innovation can support Artemis mission goals,” said Daniel Mazanek, program sponsor for RASC-AL and senior space systems engineer, NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “Their work highlights the important role student research plays in shaping future space exploration, and the results showcase how disciplined analysis can elevate innovative ideas into viable exploration concepts.”
Fourteen finalists attended the multi-day RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and gave formal presentations outlining their mission architectures, technology solutions, and supporting analysis. These discussions provided students with real-time engineering feedback, exposing them to the rigor and scrutiny applied to human spaceflight concepts under development within the agency.
Awards were presented to teams demonstrating the highest levels of technical rigor, innovation, and mission alignment. In addition to the top prizes, other awards included:
Best in Communications, Position, Navigation, and Time Architectures for Mars Surface Operations Theme: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mars Exploration Layered Infrastructure for Operations, Research, and Advancement MELIORA)
Best in Lunar Sample Return Concept Theme: South Dakota State University Sample Extraction of Lunar Elements for Network Entry (SELENE)
Best in Lunar Surface Power and Power Management and Distribution Architectures Theme: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Exploration-Class Lunar Integrated Power SystEm (ECLIPSE)
Best in Lunar Technology Demonstrations Leveraging Common Infrastructure Theme: Massachusetts Institute of Technology CLPS-enabled Highly-autonomous End-to-End isruSystem Evaluations to Build Understanding and Resilient Growth by Experimenting with Regolith (CHEESEBURGER)
Best Prototype:
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide Campus Advanced Utilization of Resources for Energy & Viability Off-Earth (Project AUREVO) University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with Leonardo de Vinci Engineering School Mining and Advanced Transformation of Regolith for Infrastructure and eXpansion (MATRIX)
“The RASC-AL program allows students to demonstrate their ability to transform innovative concepts into technically sound studies, with emphasis on technical rigor, clear communication, and systems-level thinking,” said Christopher Jones, program sponsor for RASC-AL and chief technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. “These are the hallmarks of effective engineering that we’re looking for and reflect the standards required for real-world aerospace problem-solving,”
The NASA RASC-AL competition represents a cross-agency collaboration. The competition is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace and managed by the NASA Tournament Lab, part of the agency’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program.
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Boeing assembles a composite aircraft fuselage section in one of its production facilities. Composite materials are used in major portions of modern aircraft, including sections of the fuselage and wings on aircraft such as the Boeing 787. NASA’s HiCAM project aims to help accelerate manufacturing processes for future composite aircraft.
Boeing
NASA’s Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project brought together its full team of Advanced Composites Consortium partners for a 2026 spring review at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
The meeting took place May 5-7, bringing together about 150 people from the consortium, a 22-member public-private partnership.
The review gave NASA and industry partners a chance to look at recent progress and plan for the work ahead. NASA announced recent portfolio decisions, selecting technologies that can have the greatest impact on manufacturing rate for the next airplane program.
During the meeting, teams reviewed the latest results from the project’s Development Phase and discussed early progress under Phase 2, known as the Demonstration Phase. This phase will scale up key manufacturing technologies in the coming years.
A major part of the event included full-day workshops focused on assembly demonstrations of two large aircraft structures: the wing and fuselage. These sessions brought together NASA researchers, industry engineers, and partners to share updates, exchange ideas, and discuss long-term plans. Many teams said they noticed stronger collaboration and coordination across the group this year.
That collaboration supports HiCAM’s goal of large-scale manufacturing demonstrations of a composite fuselage barrel and wing box in 2028 and 2029. These demonstrations represent major project milestones and will help show how advanced composite materials and processes could support faster, lower cost aircraft production.
NASA and its partners continue to make steady progress toward the project’s goals. The project’s work could help pave the way for new manufacturing methods for lightweight composite structures that make future aircraft easier to build and more efficient to operate.
Login
