The V-2 rocket, first used in World War II by the Germans and later used by the United States in its early rocketry work, was the first manufactured object to achieve hypersonic flight in February 1949.

Guinness World Records recognized NASA's X-43A scramjet with a new world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft - Mach 9.6, or nearly 7,000 mph. The X-43A set the new mark and broke its own world record on its third and final flight on Nov. 16, 2004.

Ames houses one of the world’s greatest collections of wind tunnels, including one of the only supersonic wind tunnels in the world.

The Zero Gravity Research Facility at GRC is a vertical vacuum chamber used for microgravity experiments. The facility consists of a concrete-lined shaft, 28 feet in diameter, that extends 510 feet below ground level. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.

On March 1, 1999, the Lewis Research Center was officially renamed the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field after John Glenn (American fighter pilot, astronaut and politician) and George W. Lewis (head of NACA from 1919 to 1947). Within NASA, Glenn is often referred to by the acronym GRC.

NASA originally planned to retire Atlantis in 2008, but a restructuring of the maintenance schedule allowed Atlantis to remain in service with Endeavour and Discovery until the retirement of the shuttle fleet in 2011.

Many astronauts have appeared in film and television, most notably Mae Jemison on "Star Trek: The Next Generation"

The first appearance on film of NASA's Space Shuttle was in the 1979 James Bond film "Moonraker".

A supposed list of 'NASA's Worst Sci-Fi Movies' released early in 2011 was not created by NASA. It was a case of spectacularly bad reporting.

The earliest NASA film credit was for the 1961 film "X-15".

According to the Internet Movie Database, NASA is credited on 271 motion pictures and television programs.

Ames Research Center was the first to develop the swept wing concept that is used in all high-speed aircraft in the world today

Ames Research Center is leading the way in the development of very small satellites called nanosatellites that can be launched quickly and cheaply. Find out more about nanosatellites at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/index.html

The old Navy Airship hangers are still at Ames and have been featured on the Discovery Channel program Mythbusters.

Ames Research Center is located in Sunnyvale, California and is adjacent to Moffett Field. Moffett Fields was originally a Naval Air Station equipped to house the airship USS Macon. When the military base closed in 1994, it’s runways and hangars were given to NASA and folded into Ames.

NASA Ames Research Center was established in 1939 as the second laboratory for NACA and was named for the chairman of NACA, Joseph S. Ames.

Congressman Jake Garn was pretty sick during his shuttle flight in 1985. He made a mark in the Astronaut Corps because he represents the maximum level of space sickness that anyone can ever attain, and so the mark of being totally sick and totally incompetent is one Garn. Most astronauts will get maybe to a tenth Garn, if that high.

The acceleration of an object toward the ground caused by gravity alone, near the surface of Earth, is called "normal gravity," or 1g. This acceleration is equal to 32.2 ft/sec2 (9.8 m/sec2).

Alan Shepard experienced microgravity for about 15 minutes during his suborbital flight 50 years ago today.

Earth's gravitational field at about 250 miles above the surface is 88.8 percent of its strength at the surface.

While most associated with space travel, microgravity is experienced everyday at amusement parks, on aircraft, and at playgrounds.

The Zero Gravity Research Facility at GRC is a vertical vacuum chamber used for microgravity experiments. The facility consists of a concrete-lined shaft, 28 feet in diameter, that extends 510 feet below ground level. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.