In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, test pilot Lawrence A. Clousing climbs into his Lockheed P-80 aircraft on Jan. 1, 1948, for a test flight at the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, Moffett Field, California.
The National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) was a precursor to NASA. NACA was created by Congress in 1915.
Each weekday, SPACE.com looks back at the history of spaceflight through photos (archive).