 Kitty Hawk 1903 the success of the Wright brothers put America at the leading edge of aviation The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics for 75 years the NACA NASA team has continued to fulfill this mission to supervise and direct the scientific study of problems and solutions of flight Dramatic advancements have been made in reducing drag and increasing speed For instance in 1947 more piloting the X-1 Chuck Yeager broke the sun barrier for the first time and the X-5 proved the variable sweet wind could fly The X-15 tested from 1958 to 1968 was the first aircraft to fly 67 miles high reaching 4,500 miles per hour it came back to an aerodynamically controlled land Inside the cockpit control panels once a myriad of dials are being consolidated into easy to read monitors enabling pilots to fly better and safer Also helping the piloter flight simulations For a while the only way to get the feel of an aircraft was to fly Flight simulations show how an aircraft will perform without leaving the ground Together with wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics engineers and pilots have the best information possible before actual flight tests Aeronautical improvements like these have led NASA to a blending of air and space Case in point, the lifting body concept Half spacecraft, half aircraft A lifting body achieves aerodynamic lift from the shape of its body alone Lifting bodies were precursors to NASA's successful space shuttle Flight experience from many programs has led to the planned X-30 also known as the National Aerospace Plane This research vehicle will be a true aerospace machine taking in a fucking air breathing aircraft and accelerating to 17,500 miles per hour into low earth orbit NASA's world-class aeronautics program 75 years of continued achievement in air and space