One project he worked on using the center’s other wind tunnels – there are currently around 16 operating, Fremaux said – was the Stardust Mission in 2006, the first spacecraft to bring back material from outside the moon’s orbit.
Now, along with testing the next generation of commercial, earthbound aviation, the Flight Dynamics Research Facility will provide experimental support for entry, descent and landing of missions returning from the moon and Mars, as well as exploration of Venus and Titan, a moon of Saturn. The research will be similar to some NASA Langley has performed for nearly 100 years as public and private air traffic went from hard-to-imagine to hard-to-imagine-life-without, Fremaux said.Courtesy of BL Herbert International and NASA Langley Research Center
“How are the models going to be launched and retrieved?” audience member Ronald Hermansderfer, 89, asked, referring to small, free-flying scale models.