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This afternoon, I made a visit to the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, adjacent to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. I had heard the Visitor Center was closing next month due to budget cuts at NASA, and wanted to make a visit before it closed.
NASA Glenn is home to several laboratories dedicated to jet engine and rocket propulsion research. As a government research and development facility, it has the usual and expected security precautions -- US citizens only, no weapons, cameras allowed in selected locations (such as the visitor center) only. There was a tour of the microgravity Drop Zone laboratory that day, but that required an advance reservation.
I watched a 15-minute summary of the STS-117 mission, narrated by one of the astronauts. I then wandered toward the static display area. They had a display honoring the facility's namesake -- astronaut and senator John H. Glenn. There was an operational scale model of a wind tunnel. They also had scaled-down mock-ups of the Ares I and Ares V rockets, which will be used on the missions to return mankind to the moon.
Naturally, much of the exciting way-cool R&D stuff currently going on in the labs hasn't been cleared for release to the public, and the other buildings on the campus were off-limits to us visitors. (Even though I used to work at Wright-Patterson AFB and GE Aircraft Engines as a contractor, I don't have any current credentials to prove this to the NASA Glenn staff.)
The visit lasted about 90 minutes, ending with the requisite stop at the gift shop.
I plan to post my pictures to my Webshots page soon.
NASA Glenn is home to several laboratories dedicated to jet engine and rocket propulsion research. As a government research and development facility, it has the usual and expected security precautions -- US citizens only, no weapons, cameras allowed in selected locations (such as the visitor center) only. There was a tour of the microgravity Drop Zone laboratory that day, but that required an advance reservation.
I watched a 15-minute summary of the STS-117 mission, narrated by one of the astronauts. I then wandered toward the static display area. They had a display honoring the facility's namesake -- astronaut and senator John H. Glenn. There was an operational scale model of a wind tunnel. They also had scaled-down mock-ups of the Ares I and Ares V rockets, which will be used on the missions to return mankind to the moon.
Naturally, much of the exciting way-cool R&D stuff currently going on in the labs hasn't been cleared for release to the public, and the other buildings on the campus were off-limits to us visitors. (Even though I used to work at Wright-Patterson AFB and GE Aircraft Engines as a contractor, I don't have any current credentials to prove this to the NASA Glenn staff.)
The visit lasted about 90 minutes, ending with the requisite stop at the gift shop.
I plan to post my pictures to my Webshots page soon.
