NASA opens new Flight Dynamics Research Facility

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NASA opened the Flight Dynamics Research Facility at Langley, a 25,000-square-foot wind tunnel that consolidates and replaces the 20-Foot Vertical Spin Tunnel and the 12-Foot Low-Speed Tunnel. The facility features a 20-foot diameter test chamber, a top airspeed of 117 miles per hour — twice the speed of the old facilities — and four 750-horsepower motors with 14-foot, eight-bladed carbon fiber fans. It supports free-flight and mounted testing for aircraft, drones, X-planes, parachutes and spacecraft, and it will help test Artemis lunar entry and Mars atmospheric flight concepts while reducing maintenance costs under a GSA partnership.

Facility enables free‑flight testing up to 117 miles per hour.