NASA was officially established on October 1, 1958, and Dr. T. Keith Glennan, President of Case Institute of Technology, was appointed as the first Administrator. The facilities and personnel of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) were transferred to form the nucleus of the new NASA agency. NACA had performed important and significant research in aeronautics, wind tunnel technology, and aerodynamics since 1915, including a series of experimental rocket research aircraft that culminated in the X-15. It was natural that it be expanded to include space operations. Among the NACA Centers transferred to NASA were the Langley Research Center at Hampton, Virginia; Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio; Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California; Flight Research Center, Edwards, California; and the rocket launch facility at Wallops Island, Virginia. Those personnel of the Naval Research Laboratory who had been working on Project Vanguard were also transferred to NASA, as was the project. These personnel are now part of the new Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland. The October, 1958, transfers also included a number of the space projects of the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Defense Department. In a December, 1958, Executive Order, the President assigned the former Army facilities of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena, California, to NASA. At the same time, the group working under Dr. Wernher von Braun at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (commanded by Major General John B. Medaris) was made responsive to NASA requirements. On July 1, 1960, the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) was organized at Huntsville under von Braun’s direction. The former Development Operations Division of ABMA formed the nucleus of the new Center. The MSFC mission was to procure and to supervise the adaptation of launch vehicles for NASA space missions, including Atlas, Thor, and Agena. Marshall is directly responsible for the design and development of advanced, high-thrust booster vehicles such as the Saturn C-1 and C-5 and the Nova. An agency to conduct NASA affairs at Cape Canaveral was formed within MSFC on July 1, 1960. Known then as the Launch Operations Directorate (LOD), it was directed by Dr. Kurt H. Debus. LOD became independent of Marshall in March, 1962, when it was redesignated the Launch Operations Center (LOC), reporting directly to the Office of Manned Space Flight. This separation resulted largely because the activities at AMR were becoming more operational in character and less oriented toward research and development. LOC handles such functions for NASA as the scheduling of launch dates and liaison with the Atlantic Missile Range for support activities. The Center will have the responsibility in the field for assembly, checkout, and launch of the Saturn and Nova boosters.