SPACE TODAY ONLINE    Covering Space From Earth to the Edge of the Universe
Cover Rockets Satellites Shuttles Stations Astronauts Solar System Deep Space History Global Links

Spaceports Around the World:

NASA's Glenn Research Center


Astronaut John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn Jr.
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

The John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, formerly known as the Lewis Research Center, was founded in 1941.

Today the center is named for space pioneer John Glenn who made history in 1962 when he strapped himself into a nine-by-seven-foot capsule atop an experimental rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth. He traveled back to space on October 29, 1998, aboard space shuttle Discovery. Between his flights, John Glenn became a U.S. Senator from Ohio.

Since 1941, researchers at the NASA center at Lewis Field have been pioneers and innovators who have expanded horizons and opened frontiers for explorers in air and space. The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) defines and develops propulsion, electrical power, and communications technologies for NASA's aeronautics and space missions. Rockets are not launched from Cleveland.

Glenn Research Center is a critical part of Ohio’s economy with a total economic impact of more than $1 billion annually and total employment impact of more than 12,000 jobs. GRC plays leadership roles in microgravity, in-space propulsion, aerospace communications and biotechnology. The Center has contributed to many technological advances, such as a permanently implantable blood pump system that has the potential to save the lives of thousands of people waiting for heart transplants and technology that allows doctors to send high-resolution mammography images directly to medical experts anywhere in the world. Future technologies include alerts for drivers in danger of crashing and fuel cell technology that would decrease our dependence on oil imports.

The center is involved in: Space Shuttle upgrades and NASA science and aeronautics programs rely heavily on work done at NASA Glenn.

Learn more about the NASA centers:

Spaceports Rockets Search STO STO Cover Feedback Questions E-Mail © 2003 Space Today Online