Revolutionary atmosphere : the story of the Altitude Wind Tunnel and Space Power Chambers / by Robert S. Arrighi.

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Arrighi, Robert S., 1969-

Contributor:

United States. NASA History Division

Series:

NASA SP (Series) ; 4319.

SP ; 2010-4319

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Altitude Wind Tunnel (Laboratory)--History.

Altitude Wind Tunnel (Laboratory).

Space Power Chambers (Laboratory)--History.

Space Power Chambers (Laboratory).

Aeronautics--Research--United States--History.

Aeronautics.

Space vehicles--Testing--History.

Space vehicles.

Aeronautics--Research.

Space vehicles--Testing.

United States.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 392 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA History Division, Office of Communications, [2010]

Summary:

"A massive, but little-known, facility in Cleveland, Ohio, played a vital role in the U.S. development of jets, in the training of NASA's first astronauts, and in making NASA's first missions beyond Earth orbit possible. Revolutionary Atmosphere tells the story of this obscure giant. Starting life in 1944 as the Altitude Wind Tunnel, it was the first wind tunnel that could study aircraft engines under realistic flight conditions; and it was enormous-in its original configuration, it could even accommodate full-size aircraft. The tunnel could not only simulate the high speeds of jet aircraft, like other wind tunnels, but could simulate the pressures and temperatures of higher elevation flight."--Publisher description.

Contents:

Premonition : the need for an engine tunnel (1936-1940)

Building a new type of tunnel design and construction (1940-1943) ; Dual wartime mission : the World War II years (1944-1945) ; Age of the axial flow : alternate wartime mission (1944-1945) ; Will to power : the postwar era (1946-1949) ; A period of transition : big engines to small rockets (1950-1958) ; Space is the place : project Mercury (1959-1960) ; Metamorphosis : wind tunnel to vacuum chamber (1961-1963) ; Space power chambers join the fray : early centaur period (1963-1964) ; Ad astra per aspera : the Centaur/Surveyor missions (1964-1967) ; Alter destiny : Centaur's big payloads (1965-1975) ; Where the wave finally broke : the idle years (1975-2005) ; Death knell : the final days of the altitude wind tunnel/space power chambers (2005-2009).

Notes:

Title from title screen (viewed on Mar. 1, 2011).

Paper version available for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S.G.P.O.

"April 2010."

Includes bibliographical references.

Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2011.

Other Format:

Print version: Arrighi, Robert S., 1969- Revolutionary atmosphere

OCLC:

704412447

Access Restriction:

Use copy Restrictions unspecified