"NACA to NASA to Now tells the story of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), 1915-1958, and its successor, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). These two federal organizations facilitated the advance of technology for flight in the air and space throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. Through aeronautics research, and later space technology, the United States became the world's leader in these areas. This book explores how and why aerospace technology took the course it did; it discusses various individuals and organizations that were involved in driving it; and it explores what were the political, economic, managerial, international, and cultural contexts in which the events of flight have unfolded. The U.S. government explicitly challenged the NACA in 1915 to accelerate aeronautical research and to further the capability of the United States to push back the frontiers of flight. After more than forty years of path breaking research into the problems of flight, the NACA was transformed in 1958 into NASA and given the added task of pursuing spaceflight with both humans and robots. By discussing some of the major themes, events, and accomplishments relating to NACA/NASA, this book provides historical perspective about the development of both atmospheric and space flight. At sum, this work illuminates the history and explores the evolution of this agency"--