NASA will help visitors imagine the future of flight at this weekend’s Virginia Regional Festival of Flight in Suffolk, Va., May 22-23.
Engineers and others from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., will be part of a special NASA display at the fly-in at the Suffolk Municipal Airport also known as the Suffolk Executive Airport (SFQ). The exhibit, sponsored by Langley’s Aeronautics Research Directorate, is designed to interest students in aviation. It will be near the fly-in’s “Youth Area” and will feature hands-on activities including an X-plane flight simulator. Kids and their parents will also be able to check out models of futuristic aircraft and displays that show what NASA engineers predict for the future of flight, including the possibility of personal air vehicles that may some day make flying as common as driving.
Speakers from NASA Langley and partner organizations will also be at the display to talk to visitors about NASA and its research, how airplanes fly, how spacecraft work and what’s next for air and space travel.
NASA’s Langley Research Center is the country’s first civilian aerospace laboratory, with more than 90 years experience in aerospace innovation. According to aviation experts, the aeronautics industry was essentially built out of NASA Langley, and the U.S. space program also started there, including the initial training of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. Langley remains one of NASA’s best-known space, aviation and climate change research facilities.
For more information: NASA.gov/Langley or VirginiaFlyIn.org
