Events On NCs Outer Banks Mark The Centennial
NASA's Langley Research Center has partnered with the First
Flight Foundation and other organizations to celebrate Soaring 100
- the centennial of Orville Wright's historic, world record glider
flight of Oct. 24, 1911. His nine minutes and 45 second flight
started the sport and science of modern soaring. The October 21-24
event will be at two locations on North Carolina's Outer Banks -
the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Jockey's Ridge State
Park.
NASA astronaut Susan Kilrain is scheduled to be part of opening
ceremonies on Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Wright Brothers National
Memorial. She also will make a presentation, "Space Shuttle -
World's Most Complex Glider" that afternoon in the pavilion.
Kilrain is a veteran of two space shuttle flights in 1997,
including serving as the pilot for STS-94.
NASA will have two separate exhibits at Soaring 100. NASA
Langley technicians will showcase wind tunnel models at the
permanent NASA Langley exhibit in one of the Wright Brothers
Memorial pavilions. Also on display will be a moon rock suspended
in a clear protective case.
NASA's Johnson Space Center's "Driven to Explore" mobile,
multi-media exhibit will be at Jockey's Ridge State Park. It will
give visitors the opportunity to not only look at, but also feel a
real three billion year old moon rock, one of only eight lunar
samples in the world the public can touch. Both locations will also
offer free "postcards from space," the chance for participants to
have their picture taken and superimposed in an astronaut suit on
another planet.
"NASA is excited to be a part of Soaring 100, " said Gail
Langevin, NASA Soaring 100 lead. "That's especially true for those
of us at NASA Langley in nearby Virginia, since we've studied the
science of aeronautics and soaring since we were established in
1917."
NASA Langley was where Francis Rogallo, the "father of hang
gliding," worked as an aeronautical engineer while pursuing his
dream of creating a vehicle to make flight affordable and available
to everyone. He tested some of his Rogallo Wing configurations in
NASA Langley wind tunnels. The Rogallo Wing has made many sports,
including hang gliding, paragliding, sport parachuting, stunt kite
flying and kite boarding, possible.
NASA Langley also has connections with that other famous glider,
Orville Wright, who was one of the fathers of powered flight.
Wright had an office at Langley, when he was part of NACA, the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
One of NASA Langley's wind tunnels also tested a life-size
reproduction of the Wright Brothers 1901 glider in 2001 as part of
the Wright Experience's efforts to reverse engineer how the Wrights
achieved the first powered flight in 1903.