When Chris Kraft was a young student fresh out of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia, he didn't know where he was going next.  Having lived in Virginia all his life, he thought the local NACA laboratory was too close to home. He wanted a chance to go somewhere different. But the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton offered him a position in the Flight Research Division, and a chance to train as an aeronautical engineer. Kraft never looked back and began his long and historic NASA career in 1945.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Annie Easley's mother told her, "You can be anything you want to be, but you have to work at it." She later moved with her husband to Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1955 read a story in the newspaper that the NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory was hiring "computers." She applied the next day and was hired two weeks later. Faced with the prejudices of the time period, she adopted an attitude of "If I can't work with you, I will work around you.  I was not about to be so discouraged that I'd walk away."

Jack Boyd had always wanted to go to California, so when a friend told him the NACA was hiring at their laboratories, he chose the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory near Mountain View. Two weeks after sending in his application, he received a telegram telling him he was hired as an engineer. Because he had studied supersonic aerodynamics, his supervisor put him in a wind tunnel to devise airfoils and begin testing them at supersonic speeds. That simple choice of moving to California began a 73 year long career with NASA.

Betty Love began work at the NACA High Speed Flight Research Station in California as a "computer" in 1952. She later recalled, "Our office was like a library. Only the hum of the Friedan calculators was the noise that you heard. No one spoke. You weren’t supposed to visit with your neighbor. You were supposed to keep your work right in front of you and do that. You weren’t to go down and visit with the engineers." She attained an engineering position herself and retired in 1973, but Betty continued to support NASA by volunteering and preserving the Center's history.

After taking a Civil Service test, Jo Dibella received an offer for a temporary job with the Adjudications Section Social Security Board and moved to Washington, DC, in June, 1937. In early 1938, while working for the Census Bureau, she met someone at a local church concert who told her that the NACA was hiring secretaries.  She landed that job and worked for Thomas Neill for 14 years.  When Director Hugh Dryden needed a new secretary, she applied and won that position. Jo continued working with Dr. Dryden through the transition of NACA to NASA and until his death in 1965.

Milt Silveira graduated from the University of Vermont in 1951 on a Friday and started work the following Monday morning at the NACA Langley Aeronautical Laboratory. After serving in Korea as a helicopter pilot, he returned to Langley in 1955 and worked on helicopter loads and vibrations. “NACA was an organization that had some of the top people. Most of the time they were the experts in that particular field." Silveira joined the Space Task Group in 1961, moving to the Manned Spacecraft Center, and later retired as the Chief Engineer for NASA in 1986.

 In 1952, Mr. Allen developed the concept of blunt-bodied craft as a technique for dissipating the heat caused by reentry of space vehicles into Earth's atmosphere.

One of the original members of the NACA appointed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1915, Ames served the Committee until 1939.

A military aviator and aeronautical engineer, DeFrance worked at the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory before becoming the director of the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory in 1940.

Hugh Dryden was Director of the NACA from 1947 until the creation of NASA in 1958 when he became the Deputy Administrator of the new agency.

Gilruth joined NACA as an engineer working at the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in 1937. In 1946, he was selected to be the first manager of NACA's guided missile range at Wallops Island, Virginia.

Goett became a project engineer at Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in 1936, moving to Ames Aeronautical Laboratory in 1940. He was chief of the Full-Scale and Flight Research Division at Ames from 1948 to 1959.

Eastman Jacobs was the head of the Variable Density Wind Tunnel (VDT) Division at Langley Aeronautical Laboratory from 1928 to 1939. He developed the design for the laminar flow airfoil.

In 1944, aeronautical engineer Robert T. Jones invented the swept wing, which is used on most modern civilian and military aircraft as well as the Space Shuttle.

In 1919, George W. Lewis was appointed as the NACA's first executive officer. Five years later, he became the director of aeronautical research, a position he held until his retirement.

Max Munk designed NACA's second wind tunnel, the Variable Density Wind Tunnel and revolutionized airfoils by applying analytical methods and experimental testing to the process.

William H. “Hewitt” Phillips was a major contributor to advances in the aeronautical and space programs of the NACA and NASA. His knowledge and expertise in the fields required for aerospace vehicles and technology was exceptionall broad.

Reid joined NACA's Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in 1921 as one of the small group of engineers and scientists on the professional staff there.

In 1929, Abe Silverstein joined the NACA's Langley Laboratory where he helped design the Full Scale Wind Tunnel. After 14 years, he was transferred to the Lewis Research Center, eventually becoming its director.

John Stack guided much of the research that paved the way for transonic aircraft, and in 1947 he was awarded the Collier Trophy together with Lawrence Bell.

Theodorsen joined NACA in 1929 and was appointed the head of the Physical Research Division at Langley Aeronautical Lab.

Weick joined NACA at Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in 1925, where he was responsible for heading the development of the NACA cowling, a development that dramatically reduced drag on aircraft engines.

In 1951, Whitcomb invented the concept of the area rule, which resulted in aircraft shapes that made it easier for them to go supersonic.

Following World War II, Williams went to what is now Edwards Air Force Base to set up flight tests for the X-1. He became the first director of what is now Armstrong Flight Research Center.

Graduating from the University of North Dakota with a triple major in physics, chemistry, and mathematics, Pearl Young became the first woman to be hired by the NACA in 1922.