Aeronautics

NASA opened its newest wind tunnel, the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, Friday, providing a critical resource for the agency and its partners to test the safety and performance of future generations of aircraft, rockets, and space exploration vehicles.

Posted July 31, 2026

Aeronautics

Aerosciences Evaluation Test Capabilities

Langley Research Center

NASA to Showcase Agency’s Newest Wind Tunnel in Virginia

Media are invited to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on Friday, July 31, to attend a media tour and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, the agency’s first new wind tunnel in more than 40 years. The event will include a brief media availability with: This event is in person only […]

Posted July 22, 2026

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Advanced Air Vehicles Program

Aeronautics

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

Langley Research Center

Subsonic Flight Demonstrator

Subsonic Vehicle Technologies and Tools

NASA Pushes New Wing Design to Find Structural Limits

NASA researchers recently put a new wing design, appearing long and thin with a lightweight structural design, through a series of grueling tests to find its structural limits. What they found left them encouraged about the wing’s potential, even when they pushed it past its intended limits.

Posted July 18, 2026

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Aeronautics

Flight Innovation

NASA Uses Subscale Aircraft to Accelerate Flight Innovation

Testing new aerospace concepts in flight remains one of NASA’s most effective ways to advance knowledge and reduce risk.

Posted July 16, 2026

Aeronautics

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Flight Innovation

NASA Aircraft

NASA Jets Turn Red, White, and Blue

In honor of America’s 250th birthday, two of NASA’s most iconic aircraft got a fresh coat of red, white, and blue paint ahead of a flyover in Washington on July 4, 2026, with other NASA aircraft. An F-15 and an F/A-18 from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, recently were repainted in […]

Posted July 14, 2026

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Aeronautics

Drones & You

Flight Innovation

NASA Study Points to Smoother Air Taxi Rides

No one wants to get into an uncomfortable aircraft. NASA research could help the emerging industry of air taxis —small, vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft meant for short trips — understand the relationship between comfort and willingness to fly. That’s where NASA comes in, with data that can help identify how to plan air taxi rides that can […]

Posted July 14, 2026

Aeronautics

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Flight Innovation

NASA Aircraft

NASA Photographer Captures Images from F-18 Over Washington

NASA flight photographers capture history from a perspective few ever experience, getting a rare bird’s-eye view of the agency’s missions in action. Their photos document key NASA research and give the public a front-row seat to the work happening behind the scenes.

Posted July 10, 2026

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Aeronautics

Flight Innovation

NASA Aircraft

Supersonic Flight

A Day of Flight Testing at NASA Armstrong

Flight testing is a team sport. For nearly 80 years, teams at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, have used flight testing to push the limits of aerodynamics and advance aviation.

Posted June 30, 2026

Langley Research Center

Aeronautics

General

NASA’s Newest Wind Tunnel Builds on Legacy of Innovation

For more than 100 years, wind tunnels at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, have helped shape the future of flight.  Now, two of NASA’s longest-serving facilities — the 12-Foot Low-Speed Tunnel and the 20-Foot Vertical Spin Tunnel — will pass the torch to the Flight Dynamics Research Facility (FDRF), the first major NASA wind tun

Posted June 29, 2026

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Aeronautics

Flight Innovation

NASA Aircraft

Supersonic Flight

This is How NASA Flight Tests New Technology

Flight tests are a big part of how NASA turns breakthrough ideas into reality. From flying humans faster than the speed of sound to proving designs that helped shape the space shuttle, flight testing transforms bold concepts into safer, more efficient technologies that benefit the public. “Flight tests are a way to safely and effectively […]

Posted June 23, 2026