Photos: Inside NASA Ames

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  • Testing surfaces

    Testing surfaces

    At the NASA Ames Research Center outside Sunnyvale, Calif., Christine Heincke sorts out the serpent's nest of water hoses making up the cooling system for the arc jet. Testing surface materials for spacecrafts, the jet sends hot gas at supersonic speeds, reaching up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Physical testing

    Physical testing

    Despite supercomputing powers, physical testing is needed to know whether spacecrafts can deal with the air pressure when re-entering the earth atmosphere.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Supercomputer

    Supercomputer

    The NASA Ames supercomputer can perform 61 trillion operations per second, making it the fourth most powerful computer in the world. Besides spacecraft development it is used for hurricane forecasts and predict the merging of black holes.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Wind tunnels

    Wind tunnels

    There used to be 26 wind tunnels at the NASA Ames Research Center, now only two remain. Most of the tests have been replaced by computer simulations.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Shuttle tests

    Shuttle tests

    The NASA space shuttles have been around for 25 years, but will soon be grounded for good. Jim Strong is one of the engineers performing shuttle safety tests, moving on to developing the new Crew Exploration Vehicle aiming for the moon.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Shark tests

    Shark tests

    This shark nose is pointing into one of the NASA Ames wind tunnels. Spacecraft models are attached to it before a giant fan is switched on, simulating the air pressure that vehicles face when entering or leaving the earth atmosphere.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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As the shuttle program turns 25, NASA opened its facilities for a peek into the development of the shuttles and their successor.

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Testing surfaces

At the NASA Ames Research Center outside Sunnyvale, Calif., Christine Heincke sorts out the serpent's nest of water hoses making up the cooling system for the arc jet. Testing surface materials for spacecrafts, the jet sends hot gas at supersonic speeds, reaching up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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