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Flight Research Laboratory
The Flight Research Laboratory (building 1244) at NASA's Langley Research Center The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, near the Chesapeake Bay front of Langley Air Force Base, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. LaRC has focused primarily on aeronautical research but has also ... houses fixed and rotary wing aircraft used in atmospheric and flight research. It also housed simulation equipment used during the Gemini and Apollo programs such as the Rendezvous Docking Simulator (which remains stowed in the ceiling of the hangar) and Projector Planetarium. The hangar consists of by of clear space and features a by door with an additional door for the tail section of large aircraft and covers with an additional of laboratory spaces. At the time of its construction it was one of the largest structures of its kind in the world. The hangar is heated by a radiant heating system consisting of hot water circulated beneath the con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Langley Research Center
The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, near the Chesapeake Bay front of Langley Air Force Base, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. LaRC has focused primarily on aeronautical research but has also tested space hardware such as the Apollo Lunar Module. In addition, many of the earliest high-profile space missions were planned and designed on-site. Langley was also considered a potential site for NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center prior to the eventual selection of Houston, Texas. Established in 1917 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the research center devotes two-thirds of its programs to aeronautics and the rest to space. LaRC researchers use more than 40 wind tunnels to study and improve aircraft and spacecraft safety, performance, and efficiency. Between 1958 and 1963, when NASA (the successor agency to NACA) started Project Mercury, LaRC served as the main office of the Space Task Group. In September 201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hampton, VA
Hampton is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 census, making it the seventh-most populous city in Virginia. Hampton is included in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, the 37th-largest in the United States, with a total population of 1,799,674 in 2020. This area, known as "America's First Region", also includes the independent cities of Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, as well as other smaller cities, counties, and towns of Hampton Roads. Hampton traces its history to the city's Old Point Comfort, the home of Fort Monroe, which was named by the 1607 voyagers, led by Captain Christopher Newport, who first established Jamestown as an English colonial settlement. Since consolidation by a mutual agreement in 1952, Hampton has included the former Elizabeth City County and the incorporated town of Phoebus.. After the end of the American Civil War, histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rendezvous Docking Simulator
The Rendezvous Docking Simulator, also known as the Real-Time Dynamic Simulator, is a simulator at the Langley Research Center. It was constructed for the Gemini program in Building 1244 and it became operational in June 1963 at a cost of $320,000 and later reconfigured for the Apollo program. The simulator consists of a gantry frame, with an overhead carriage from which test craft were suspended by cables. A gimbal was powered hydraulically and was capable of changing pitch and yaw at a rate of 1 radian per second or roll at 2 radians per second. The gantry also moved like an overhead crane using electric motors and was capable of travelling longitudinally at up to , laterally at up to and vertically at up to . It is the only surviving simulator from the NASA Gemini and Apollo space programs that was used by astronauts to practice docking of space capsules with other vessels. Ability to dock reliably with the Apollo Lunar Module was a crucial skill essential for the mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Projector Planetarium
The Projection Planetarium was a training device housed in the Flight Research Laboratory hangar at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve .... It consisted of a custom designed star projector surrounded by a diameter sphere constructed from a surplus radome. The star projector was movable in 3 directions while the capsule mockup and its pilots remained static. The system was used in studies of manual control of spacecraft using "out the window" visual information both in orbit and in a launch abort scenario. The planetarium was constructed in 1965 at a cost of $153,103 for research and development and $177,000 for construction and materials. An additional $145,400 worth of surplus materials were made use of in the project ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
