WD74W2

TOTEST
By Stephen Chapis
In his book
Expanding the Envelope:
Flight Research at NACA and NASA,
author Michael H. Gorn noted that even for
those with experience, the meaning of the term “flight
research” can be elusive. Although the staff at the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Dryden Flight
Research Center at Edwards AFB, California, have a simple
definition: “to separate the real from the imagined.” When
considering the advent of flight, one might think it began with the
Wright Brother’s experiments conducted around the turn of the
century that reached fruition on that fabled blustery day on the
Photo: Scott Slocum
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