Page "Marshall Space Flight Center" Paragraph 11

On April 2, President Dwight D. Eisenhower recommended to Congress that a civilian agency be established to direct nonmilitary space activities, and on July 29, the President signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ).

The nucleus for forming NASA was the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ( NACA ), with its 7, 500 employees and Ames Research Center ( ARC ), Langley Research Center ( LaRC ), and Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory ( later LRC, then Glenn RC ) becoming the initial operations of NASA.