Along the shore of the Chesapeake Bay is the United States'​ first civilian aeronautics research laboratory. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics established the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia, in 1917. At the dawn of the Space Age in 1958, the lab became NASA Langley Research Center. Langley's work lays the foundation for the nation's future in aerospace and science by helping to advance NASA's goals.