NASA opened its newest wind tunnel, the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, Friday, providing a critical resource for the agency and its partners to test the safety and performance of future generations of aircraft, rockets, and space exploration vehicles. Located at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the Flight Dynamics Research Facility will support advances […]
Category: Aeronautics
NASA Opens New Flight Dynamics Research Facility in Virginia
NASA opened its newest wind tunnel, the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, Friday, providing a critical resource for the agency and its partners to test the safety and performance of future generations of aircraft, rockets, and space exploration vehicles. Located at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the Flight Dynamics Research Facility will support advances […]
NASA to Showcase Agency’s Newest Wind Tunnel in Virginia
Media are invited to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on Friday, July 31, to attend a media tour and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, the agency’s first new wind tunnel in more than 40 years. The event will include a brief media availability with: This event is in person only […]
NASA Pushes New Wing Design to Find Structural Limits
NASA researchers recently put a new wing design, appearing long and thin with a lightweight structural design, through a series of grueling tests to find its structural limits. What they found left them encouraged about the wing’s potential, even when they pushed it past its intended limits. The 15-foot Structural Wing Experiment Evaluating Truss-bracing (SWEET-15) […]
NASA Uses Subscale Aircraft to Accelerate Flight Innovation
Testing new aerospace concepts in flight remains one of NASA’s most effective ways to advance knowledge and reduce risk. The Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, supports this mission by using small, remotely piloted and autonomous aircraft as cost‑effective platforms to mature innovative ideas, accelerate learning, […]
NASA Jets Turn Red, White, and Blue
In honor of America’s 250th birthday, two of NASA’s most iconic aircraft got a fresh coat of red, white, and blue paint ahead of a flyover in Washington on July 4, 2026, with other NASA aircraft. An F-15 and an F/A-18 from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, recently were repainted in […]
NASA Study Points to Smoother Air Taxi Rides
No one wants to get into an uncomfortable aircraft. NASA research could help the emerging industry of air taxis —small, vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft meant for short trips — understand the relationship between comfort and willingness to fly. That’s where NASA comes in, with data that can help identify how to plan air taxi rides that can […]
NASA Photographer Captures Images from F-18 Over Washington
NASA flight photographers capture history from a perspective few ever experience, getting a rare bird’s-eye view of the agency’s missions in action. Their photos document key NASA research and give the public a front-row seat to the work happening behind the scenes. Jim Ross, a photographer at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, […]
A Day of Flight Testing at NASA Armstrong
Flight testing is a team sport. For nearly 80 years, teams at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, have used flight testing to push the limits of aerodynamics and advance aviation. Earlier this year, NASA’s Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) initiative tested a wing concept that would maximize the smooth flow of […]
NASA’s Newest Wind Tunnel Builds on Legacy of Innovation
For more than 100 years, wind tunnels at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, have helped shape the future of flight. Now, two of NASA’s longest-serving facilities — the 12-Foot Low-Speed Tunnel and the 20-Foot Vertical Spin Tunnel — will pass the torch to the Flight Dynamics Research Facility (FDRF), the first major NASA wind tunnel built in more than 40 years. “The FDRF […]