HAMPTON, Va. (WVEC) -- After taking a tour of the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine says he was impressed with what he saw Monday, calling the facility "a national treasure" and "an important pillar of the Hampton Roads economy."
Kaine, who co-chairs the Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus, visited the new Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility and the Engineering Design Studio where the flight mission support center is located.
The site is currently under construction for the new $95 million Measurement Systems Laboratory.
"The measurement aspect of what they do, measuring ozone in the atmosphere, measuring the effects of climate change, you know, one way to look at NASA, a lot of what they do is about measurement," Kaine said. "And so this lab that's underway now will enable sophisticated measurements to be done. So I really wanted to come back and see it under construction because I had advocated for the funding for it."
In the Senate, Kaine helped secure federal funding to construct the new laboratory, which will house new state-of-the-art equipment to help Langley continue its space exploration, science, and aeronautics missions.
After his visit, Kaine said he is more convinced than ever that schools need to do a better job of preparing today's students for the jobs of tomorrow at places like NASA.
"So we want to make sure at our schools of education, we're teaching the science teachers of tomorrow that inspire kids towards these kinds of careers," he said.