As the Space Act of 1958 made its way through Congress, trailing behind it the sheaves of legal documents and memoranda required to bring NASA to life, one memo quietly circulated at what was soon to be renamed the Langley Research Center, authored by Langley’s assistant director, Floyd Thompson, dated May 5, 1958, officially ending segregation at Langley. “Effective this date, the West Area Computers Unit is dissolved.”
