NOTE: NO FURTHER DISCOUNT FOR THIS PRINT PRODUCT--OVERSTOCK SALE-- Significantly reduced list price 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. Creating the frigid temperatures required the world’s largest refrigeration system, which the Carrier Corporation designed with innovative accordion-like cooling coils. At the military’s request, nearly every type of aircraft engine was tested in the Altitude Wind Tunnel during the 1940s and 1950s. In the late 1950s, when the flight of Sputnik I spurred the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to become the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and change its primary mission to aerospace, the facility changed too.The tunnel was divided into two sealed vacuum chambers, with one chamber completely rewelded to withstand the higher pressures of simulating the vacuum of space. A liquid-nitrogen cold wall was added to simulate the extreme cold of space, and special lamps were added to simulate the intense heat and light of solar radiation outside of Earth’s atmosphere. It was renamed the Space Power Chambers and began its second life as two gigantic environmental chambers, or space tanks.After the mid-1970s the facility was no longer used to simulate the environments of space or the upper atmosphere. Parts of it were used for storage, a shop area was used to test electric automobiles, and the Exhauster Building (which had created the vacuum environment for the facility) had a lengthy second career as a visitor center. In 2005 NASA decided to tear the facility down rather than continue the expense of maintaining it. The Altitude Wind Tunnel/Space Power Chambers’ 65-year history came to an end in 2009 as its last pieces were dismantled and hauled away. Other products produced by NASA can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/550

Revolutionary Atmosphere: The Story Of The Altitude Wind Tunnel And The Space Power Chambers (Nasa Sp-2010-4319)

Science & Math

Arrighi, Robert S.

Astronomy & Space Science

Government Printing Office

Bowles, Mark D., Arrighi, Robert S.

Nasa's Nuclear Frontier: The Plum Brook Reactor Facility, 1941-2002

Bowles, Mark D.

Physics

Diane Pub Co.

Revolutionary Atmosphere: The Story of the Altitude Wind Tunnel and the Space Power Chambers

This scholarly look at the Altitude Wind Tunnel covers the transformations the wind tunnel made in its long history from a wind tunnel doing full-scale testing for wartime applications, to a vacuum chamber supporting the Vision for Space Exploration, and even a brief period as home to Mercury astronaut training. The book also addresses the attempts to resurrect the facility and its eventual decommissioning and demolition. The Altitude Wind Tunnel's (AWT) steel shell loomed, almost threateningly, over the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center s main campus in Cleveland, Ohio, for over 60 years. The facility had been inactive since 1975, but the hulking tunnel sat in a conspicuous location between the visitors’ center and the Icing Research Tunnel and was seen daily by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. The tunnel slowly ebbed from NASA Glenn's collective consciousness. Inside the steel shell, significant contributions had been made in the advancement of the jet engine and the high-profile Project Mercury and Centaur Program. Yet, the AWT had remained a mystery to most current employees and the public. Not only did the rusting giant have an obscure past, few even knew its name. This book and other documentation have been created to resurrect the esteemed reputation of this once-vital and historically significant facility. The AWT's unrivaled capability to test full-scale engines in simulated altitude conditions advanced the development of the jet engine considerably during its formative period in the 1940s and in its maturity in the 1950s. The AWT was the nation's first wind tunnel built specifically to study the operation of engines. Its ability to consistently re-create flight conditions allowed researchers to systematically study engine behavior and perfect innovations such as the afterburner and the variable-area nozzle. Between 1959 and 1963 the AWT was slowly transformed into two large test chambers. The tunnel's simulated high-altitude conditions allowed NASA to cancel costly and time-consuming flight testing for Project Mercury. Afterward the tunnel was converted into one of the nation's first large vacuum chambers and renamed the Space Power Chambers (SPC). It was used to quickly remedy a number of problems for the Centaur second-stage rocket. The SPC tests allowed the Centaur to sustain its tight schedule for the Surveyor and later orbiting observatory missions. Use of the facility tapered off in the 1970s, and an effort to resurrect the wind tunnel failed in the early 1980s. After years of neglect, the tunnel was demolished in late 2008 and spring 2009. NASA's historical publications tend to focus on center histories, specific programs (particularly the human space program), or chronologies and other reference materials. The NASA Glenn Research Center has carved out a niche by writing the histories of several of its research facilities. The Icing Research Tunnel, Rocket Engine Test Facility, and Plum Brook Reactor have all been documented in recent years. These three books appear to be the only single-facility studies in NASA's historical collection.

History

Administration, National Aeronautics and Space

World

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

NASA SP 2010-4319. NASA History Series. This scholarly look at the Altitude Wind Tunnel covers the transformations the wind tunnel made in its long history from a wind tunnel doing full-scale testing for wartime applications, to a vacuum chamber supporting the Vision for Space Exploration, and even a brief period as home to Mercury astronaut training. The book also addresses the attempts to resurrect the facility and its eventual decommissioning and demolition.

NASA History Division

Military Bookshop

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