and also made the FAA responsible for a common civil-military system of air navigation and air traffic control. The FAA's first administrator, Elwood R. Quesada, was a former U.S. Air Force Lt. General who commanded the early tactical air forces of the Ninth Air Force in Europe in World War II, and served as an advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The same year witnessed the transformation of the March 1915-founded National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from the dissolution of the former NACA agency on that date, in the wake of the Soviet Union's launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik. NASA assumed NACA's role of aeronautical research. Department of Transportation and TSA The accident investigation powers of the Civil Aeronautics Board were transferred to the new National Transportation Safety Board in 1967, at the same time that the United States Department of Transportation was created. The CAB's remaining authority was to control the routes airlines were allowed to run, and the fares they were allowed to charge. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 phased out these controls, resulting in the elimination of the CAB at the end of 1984. The September 11, 2001 attacks challenged the air transportation system by presenting a new type of terrorist attack: hijacked airliners used for terrorist attacks. The government's response included the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, enacted that November, that established a new DOT organization: the Transportation Security Administration. It received broad powers to protect air travel and other transportation modes against criminal activity. References External links Department of Transportation Online Digital Special Collections Library - air investigation reports and various other circulars and orders dating from before the formation of the NTSB in 1967 Federal Aviation Administration Department of Transportation Department of Commerce Civil aviation in the United States History of science and technology in the United States History of the government of the United States