NASA is the national aeronautics and
space administration nasa has many
facilities around the United States and
the people working at them have a
variety of jobs to do some work in
aeronautics others concentrate on
improving aircraft engines and some are
involved with a space shuttle and Space
Flight at all the center's many
specialized skills are necessary the
dryden flight research facility is
NASA's primary installation for flight
research it's located 80 miles north of
Los Angeles on the western edge of the
Mojave Desert over the desert the sky is
clear enough to fly almost every day of
the year and NASA has access to over
20,000 square miles of airspace for
research flying we use the same dry lake
bed and runways that the Air Force uses
and these are the exact same runways in
dry lake bed that the Space Shuttle uses
when it lands at Edwards Air Base test
flight programs began at Dryden in the
late 1940s some of these aircraft looks
silly to us now but the risks taken then
have shaped airplane flight as we know
it today the x-series or experimental
aircraft showed that man could fly
faster than the speed of sound test on
the x-15 in the late 1950s helped the
United States develop a manned
spacecraft
this funny-looking bird is the xb-70
during its flights over Dryden NASA
learned some things that made supersonic
flight with large airplanes more
practical quite a few wingless vehicles
will pull through the air or flew from
dryden during the 1960s and 70s NASA was
looking for a way to prove that it was
possible to fly in space and safely
return to Earth these tests eventually
led to what we know as the space shuttle
before the all-electric flight control
system and fly-by-wire technology was
put into today's airplanes they were
much heavier and slower that's because
rods and connections to steer the planes
and keep them in the air were made of
heavier metals now computers could relay
the pilots instructions to the various
parts of the airplane the supercritical
wing concept was also tested by NASA
it's a thinner wing flatter on top and
more rounded on the bottom it cuts
through the air better which helps a
plane cruise at higher speeds with less
fuel
test today at Dryden include high angle
of attack research with the f-18 the x29
sr-71 f15 digital systems research and
laminar flow studies with the f16 XL's
the people who work at Dryden need to
know many different things things like
math science and computer skills also
the people need to be able to speak
clearly to one another and to understand
their fellow workers let's take a look
at some of the people who work in the
shops and laboratories at the driving
flight research facility this is the
high temperature and loads calibration
lab where people test many different
aircraft parts researchers would much
rather see what affects heat and stress
have on these parts on the ground
instead of in flight there are shops at
Dryden where finely tooled aircraft
parts are made in another section people
repair build and install electronics and
other aircraft parts which keep the
planes in the air aircraft communication
and navigation equipment is maintained
at Dryden technicians in the
environmental testing lab run the
equipment through simulated flight
conditions to make sure it works okay
before it goes on an aircraft this is
the water tunnel at Dryden here model
airplanes are used dive events are
installed on them so engineers can see
the flows coming off the model the same
as if it was an air flow across the real
airplane
adjustments made to the model can also
apply to the actual airplane and help
improve flight and it's less expensive
than taking the life-size airplane
through wind tunnel testing computer
skills are needed for the people to work
in the data analysis facilities at NASA
this is where flight research data is
processed and information is shared with
other NASA centers and test sites around
the country people working in dryden
simulator labs need a wide variety of
high-tech and computer skills this is
where aircraft flight simulators and
computers create situations helpful in
predicting how the aircraft will
actually perform our specially equipped
control rooms are manned by experts to
monitor the various research gathering
missions on the ground the life support
team keeps flight suits parachutes
oxygen supplies and other equipment
ready for our pilots and flight
engineers who carry out the research
flights as you can see NASA has helped
shaped aviation history in many ways
we've sent men and machines into space
to the moon and other planets we have
satellites that circle the earth which
help people forecast the weather and
information gathered from computer
simulation that has even been used to
make valves for an artificial heart the
dragon flight research facility is a
very important part of NASA what is
being flown at Dryden today will have a
direct impact on the airplanes of
tomorrow how they look how they'll fly
and how safe they'll be for you and me