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(From left) Aerospace Testing Alliance Outside Machinists Gary Cunningham and R.B. Ray install an External Tank Thermal Protection System foam sample tile prior to injection into Tunnel C which was already running at Mach 4 and 1,440 degrees Fahrenheit. The TPS foam protects the shuttle's ET during ascent. (Photo by David Housch)

Tennessee playing a role in shuttle Return to Flight

Pressure sensitive paint flow visualization data from a three-percent model of the space shuttle tested at the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center’s long transonic wind tunnel was used to validate computational fluid dynamics data generated by NASA.

Tennessee playing a role in shuttle Return to Flight

A “blue light” photo of the “full stack” space shuttle model in 16-foot transonic wind tunnel at the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center.

Tennessee playing a role in shuttle Return to Flight

Machinist Larry Phipps at the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center loads a foam projectile into an 86-foot-long rectangular barrel used to conduct impact testing for the Space Shuttle Return to Flight program.

PSP system validates future goals of the program

Space Shuttle

Arnold AFB linked to space shuttle return-to-flight program

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- (From left) Jim Greathouse, Darby Vicker and Bob Ess examine a space shuttle model during a model change in the 16-foot transonic wind tunnel at the Arnold Engineering Development Center here. Mr. Greathouse and Mr. Vicker are computational fluid dynamics analysts, and Mr. Ess is a program manager. They are from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. (U.S. Air Force photo)