WASHINGTON -- NASA said today rumors that it might close Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia have no basis in truth.
"That’s what it is. It’s just rumors. NASA has no plans to close
Langley," NASA spokesman Michael Braukus told Space.com. "Langley is one of our foremost aeronautical research centers … that provides us with the technology we need for our mission."
Rumors that NASA might close Langley have spun out of the deep budget cuts facing the center – down from roughly $624 million this year to $515 million in 2000. The cuts are attributed to Boeing’s departure from the project to design and build a new commercial space-age aircraft – which would have heavily involved Langley -- and the impression by some Virginia lawmakers that NASA is concentrating on space flight.
Just last month, in a speech before the American Bar Association’s forum on Air and Space NASA Administrator Dan Goldin said NASA was committed to a "thriving" air transportation industry.
"At NASA our commitment runs deep," Golding quipped, "because you can’t spell NASA without aeronautics."
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