“NASA is excited to be a part of Soaring100, especially NASA’s Langley Research Center in nearby Hampton, Va., which has studied the science of aeronautics and soaring since the laboratory was established in 1917,” says NASA Langley spokesperson, Kathy Barnstorff.

NASA Langley was where the “father of hang gliding” Francis Rogallo 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 another famous glider, one of the fathers of powered flight, Orville Wright. 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. The Wright Experience, the team that built the reproduction, learned from the test, adding to their efforts to reverse engineer how the Wrights achieved the first powered flight in 1903.

The First Flight Foundation is thrilled to announce that NASA astronaut Susan Kilrain is scheduled to appear at Soaring100 on Saturday, October 22.  Her presentation, “Space Shuttle––the World’s Most Complex Glider” will be given at 1 p.m. at the Wright Brothers National Memorial “Flight Room.” Kilrain is a veteran of two space shuttle flights in 1997. She was the pilot for one of them – STS-94.

NASA will have three separate exhibits for Soaring100.  The existing NASA Langley exhibit in the Centennial Pavilion at the Wright Brothers Memorial will be complemented by NASA Langley technicians who will showcase wind tunnel models.

 

 

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center’s “Exploration Experience” interactive traveling display will also be at the Wright Brothers Memorial, while NASA’s Johnson Space Center’s “Driven to Explore” mobile, multi-media exhibit will be at Jockey’s Ridge State Park.

Both exhibits give visitors the opportunity to feel a real three-billion year old moon rock, two of only eight lunar samples in the world made available to the public to touch.  “Driven to Explore” at Jockey’s Ridge will also offer “Postcards from Space,” giving visitors a chance to have their picture taken and superimposed in an astronaut suit on another planet. Free for children and adults, “Postcards from Space” is extremely popular, and the unique memento is frequently described in a word, “Awesome!”

Soaring100, a four day celebration at Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills and Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head, marks the centennial of Orville Wright’s world record glider flight in 1911, widely considered the birth of modern soaring.  Numerous flight groups, dignitaries, and aviators of note are travelling to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to celebrate this historic occasion October 21 through 24.

Soaring100 is a partnership of top flying groups in the United States, including The Soaring Society of America, the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, the National Soaring Museum, the Vintage Sailplane Association, NASA, the Academy of Model Aeronautics, The Rogallo Foundation, and the Foundation for Free Flight. The First Flight Foundation has assumed a leadership role, and the First Flight Society is organizing the commemoration at the close of the festivities on the morning of October 24.

Top-level sponsors for this once-in-a-lifetime event includes Kitty Dunes Realty, Kitty Hawk Kites, and BB&T.  Additional support comes from AT&T, and TowneBank of Currituck and many others.  Grants have been awarded by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau and Wolfe Aviation.

For additional information about Soaring100, or to volunteer, please visit www.soaring100.com or call the First Flight Foundation office at (252) 491-5165.