I ’ve always been astonished by wind tunnels . Why ? First of all , they ’re massive body structure . Then there ’s the remarkable donation they make to science and engineering — without wind tunnels , we likely would n’t have uprise the aerospace technology that put us on the moon . And finally , wind tunnels are often just gorgeous , dramatic quad . For proof , see the striking simulacrum below , which span almost a full C of idle words burrow examination .
1922. The Variable Density Tunnel at NASA’s Langley Research Center. It was the world’s first variable density wind tunnel that allowed accurate testing with small-scale models.
Photo : NASA
The honeycombed, screened center of this open-circuit air intake for Langley’s first wind tunnel insured a steady, non-turbulent flow of air.
Photo : NACA / NASA
1934. Annual aircraft engineering conference group photo in the full-scale wind tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center.
Photo : Library of Congress
A technician prepares to unlatch the door built into the guide vanes of the 16-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center. This tunnel, one of dozens of research facilities at Langley, was built in 1939.
photograph : Bill Taub / NASA
The wind tunnel at the NASA Glenn Research Center, in 1944.
pic : NASA / Glenn Research Center
Inside the 16-foot supersonic wind tunnel of thPropulsion Wind Tunnel Facility, Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., 1960.
Photo : Phil Tarver / U.S. Air Force
Here’s a rare photograph of a large Tu-144 scale model in a wind tunnel. The Soviet supersonic transport aircraft was designed by the Tupolev bureau, and the design was unveiled in 1962.
Photo : Utak és járművek – A Szovjetúnió közlekedése , 1975 ( Roads and vehicle – Transportation in the USSR )
Model of supersonic transport in the full-scale wind tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia.
The smaller, 10×10 foot wind tunnel test section at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, in 1964.
photograph : Paul Riedel / NASA GRC
A Schlieren photograph of an F11F-1 Tiger at Mach 1.4 in the 1-foot by 3-foot wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center, in February 1965.
SCIP-3 Model, Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (1251), NASA Langley Research Center, 1975.
A BMW R 100 RS motorcycle in the Pininfarina wind tunnel, 1976.
Photo : BMW
A Schleiren photo of a supersonic wind tunnel model of the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber, with its wingtips set in the “up” position.
Photo : The Unwanted Blog
Laser doppler velocimeter test in the 8×6 foot wind tunnel at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, 1979.
pic : NASA GRC
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) engineer observes the testing of a small Space Shuttle orbiter model at 14 Wind Tunnel in 1980.
The silhouette of a workman in the 8×6 foot wind tunnel at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, 1980.
A model hypersonic craft undergoing tests in the 20 Inch Mach 6 Tunnel NASA Langley Research Center, 1986.
Photo : James Schultz / NASA
The 16-foot fairing and turning vanes of the 16-foot transonic wind tunnel of Langley after rehabilitation, in 1990.
Langley’s 16-foot transonic wind tunnel cone fairing.
On 11 January 2025, Skier Picabo Street trained at the USST Wind Tunnel testing facility in Buffalo, New York.
Photo : Mike Powell / Getty Images
F-16XL wind tunnel model in the Unitary and Continuous-Flow Hypersonic Tunnels Building 1251, NASA Langley Research Center, 26 December 2024
November 4th, 1997: Graham Bell of England in position on the Jordan wind tunnel at Brackley, Northamptonshire, England.
Photo : Mike Cooper /Allsport / Getty Images
The BMW H2R (“Hydrogen Record Car”) in a wind tunnel, in 2004.
Speed skier Tracie Max Sachs from USA in the wind tunnel of the Geneva Engineers School in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, 25 January 2025.
Photo : KEYSTONE / Martial Trezzini / AP
United States Olympic luge team member Mark Grimmette is positioned for a wind tunnel test in a new racing suit to be used for the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympics, at the San Diego Air and Space Museum in February 2010, in San Diego.
Photo : Lenny Ignelzi / AP
The world’s largest automotive wind tunnel at the General Motors Aerodynamics Laboratory 30 December 2024 in Warren, Michigan. The tunnel features a 43-foot diameter fan.
Photo : Bill Pugliano / Getty Images
Schlieren testing of the 70-metric-ton configuration of the SLS rocket, designed to carry the Orion spacecraft, in the Trisonic Wind Tunnel at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Photo : NASA / MSFC
The largest parachute ever built to fly on an extraterrestrial mission—for NASA’s Curiosity mission to Mars—inside the world’s largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, 2009.
photograph : NASA / JPL - Caltech
photograph : NASA / Ames Research Center / JPL
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