WEBVTT

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To get off the ground you need an engine.

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20 years before rockets carried the first humans out of our atmosphere, the NACA built a laboratory dedicated to aircraft propulsion.

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Construction began in 1941, in Cleveland and became what we know today as NASA's Glenn Research Center.

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The focus on piston engine performance during the war evolved into testing some of the nation's first jet engines,

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improving turbojet and ramjet designs in the 1940s and 50s.

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Researchers at the lab advanced aviation safety, expanded the NACA's award winning icing research, and developed crash fire prevention and passenger restraints.

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In the Atomic age, it was in Ohio that the NACA investigated nuclear propulsion systems for aircraft and rockets.

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Beginning in 1958, the lab applied its aeronautics expertise to space.

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High-energy propellant research led to NASA using liquid hydrogen in most upper stage rockets, and the space shuttle.

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Investigations continued into cryogenic propellant handling and microgravity research.

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In 1962, the center became responsible for the Centaur rocket program, that sent the surveyor spacecraft to the moon,

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launched probes to the outer planets, and placed scores of satellites into orbit.