NASA - Dryden Flight Research Center

Dryden News

Endeavour's Turnaround Going Well, Ferry Flight Could Occur Sunday

United Space Alliance technicians Troy Mann, Mark Shimei, Jim Smodell and Kelly Gattuso carefully wrap the lower portion of an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit prior to removal from Space Shuttle Endeavour. (NASA photo / Tony Landis)

Turnaround processing for the Space Shuttle Endeavour continued Thursday at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base in the Southern California high desert. Processing managers reported that de-servicing work and preparations for Endeavour's ferry flight back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are running slightly ahead of schedule as of Thursday morning, and the shuttle could depart Edwards as early as Sunday morning if all continues to go well.

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Dryden News and Events Features

Final Flight of the X-15 Left a Legacy of Success

If residents of Western Nevada had looked high up in the sky on the morning of Oct. 24, 1968, they might have seen the sun glinting off the fuselage of a silver, eight-engine NB-52A Stratofortress as it made a graceful turn over Smith Ranch Dry Lake.
Rake Airflow Gage Experiment Flies on NASA F-15B

Conical probes are used for measuring airflow parameters – airspeed, angle of attack and sideslip.
Extending the Frontiers of Flight: the X-15

It's been called the most successful of the X-plane flight research programs, but according to noted aerospace author Dennis Jenkins, the decade-long X-15 rocket plane hypersonic research program was not without its pitfalls.
Scientists Selected for New Airborne Eye on the Universe

Three astronomers to participate in first scientific observations to be conducted by the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).
NASA Reinstalls Main Mirror in SOFIA Airborne Observatory

Engineers and technicians from NASA, the German Space Agency and the Deutsches SOFIA Institut recently reinstalled the German-built primary mirror assembly into NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, airborne observatory.
Orion Gets a Lift

Recently, the Orion pad abort crew module was lifted by crane and placed on instrumented jacks at NASA Dryden to determine the vehicle's weight, balance and vertical center of gravity.
NASA Partners With Forest Service On Air Tanker Safety Study

NASA is partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service on a project to examine the mission suitability of Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 fire retardant delivery aircraft.

News and Events Features Archives

Dryden Spotlight

Celebrating NASA's 50th Anniversary
STS-126
Mission Update

Space Shuttle Endeavour is delivering supplies and equipment to enable larger crews to staff the International Space Station during its STS-126 mission.
Informe de STS-126 en español
› STS-126 Blog
Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle

Time-lapse video of the Orion Abort Flight Test Demonstrator undergoing weight, balance and center of gravity tests at NASA Dryden.
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SOFIA

NASA is developing the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy - or SOFIA - as a world-class airborne observatory that will complement the Hubble, Spitzer, Herschel and James Webb space telescopes and major Earth-based telescopes.
Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility

Our new aircraft operations facility in Palmdale offers the expanded space needed to manage Dryden's airborne science missions and research platforms.
Research Update

Current flight research projects and programs being flown at Dryden Flight Research Center.
This Week in Dryden's History

A collection of historical facts and events from Dryden's last 50 years.
X-Press

Newsletter devoted to the research conducted at DFRC and the people who make it happen.
Read the October X-tra