| By the
early beginnings of NASA's and America's human space program
some 40 years ago, the Langley Research Center in Virginia had
a long and rich history. By the time the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration was created in 1958, Langley had been
a part of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics for
close to 50 years, working on the nation's aeronautics
program. It was the first home of the Space Task Group (STG),
which was formed with NACA/NASA engineers to conduct the
Mercury Project. This core group began the early design of
Mercury.
Then, on
May 25, 1961, just three weeks after Alan Shepard became the
first American in space, President John F. Kennedy set a goal
for the United States that would surpass any previous
engineering and scientific feat: Humans would land on the moon
and return safely to Earth before the end of the
decade.
President
Kennedy tells a crowd of 35,000 at Rice Stadium, Houston,
Texas, "We intend to become the world's leading spacefaring
nation."
"Now it
is time to take longer strides-time for a great new American
enterprise-time for this nation to take a clearly leading role
in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to
our future on Earth," said the president, speaking before
Congress. "I believe that this nation should commit itself to
achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a
man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No
single space project in this period will be more impressive to
mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of
space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to
accomplish."
A
staggering job beyond the scope of Mercury had been dumped in
NASA's lap. "Now how the hell are we going to do that?" one
NASA engineer asked a colleague as they sat contemplating the
speech in a quiet office at Langley.
Though
physically located at Langley until the completion of Project
Mercury, the STG was initially part of NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Beltsville, Md. It had been decided to
incorporate the STG under the mantle of the GSFC because the
STG was a highly technical organization whose personnel had
little time for administration. Thirty-five STG members were
on the roster when the STG was officially born on Nov. 5,
1958. Most were engineers; a few were administrative. Another
15 engineers were on temporary assignment from Lewis
Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio.
Construction of the Manned Spacecraft Center
begins.
With the
daunting task ahead, the STG needed new quarters with test
facilities and research laboratories suitable to mount an
expedition to the moon-not to mention the need for aircraft
hangars, huge warehouses and office buildings. Long before it
was built, the NASA-center-to-be was designated the Manned
Spacecraft Center (MSC) and, from its inception, it was to be
the lead center for all space missions involving
astronauts. |
