 NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA has many facilities around the United States, and the people working here have a variety of jobs to do. Some work in aeronautics. Others concentrate on improving aircraft engines, and still others are involved with a space shuttle program and space flight. At all the centers, many specialized skills are needed. The Dryden Flight Research Center is NASA's primary installation for flight research. We're located 90 miles north of Los Angeles on the western edge of the Mojave Desert. The desert skies are clear, and the weather is good enough for year-round flight testing. Also from Dryden, we have access to over 20,000 square miles of airspace for research flying. We share the same dry lake bed surface and hard runway complex with Edwards Air Force Base. These are the same runways our space shuttle fleet uses when they land here. Flight testing programs began at Dryden in the 1940s. Some of these vehicles may look a bit silly by today's standards, but the many risks taken back then help shape flight as we know it today. The early X or experimental series proved that man could fly faster than the speed of sound. Tests with the X-15 and the 1950s and 60s helped the United States develop a manned spacecraft. This funny-looking bird was the X-B70. During its flights over Dryden, NASA discovered some things that made supersonic flight with large aircraft more practical. Quite a few wingless vehicles were pulled through the air or flew from Dryden during the 1960s and 70s. NASA was looking for ways to prove space flight was possible with a reusable vehicle. This research with the lifting bodies led to today's space shuttle fleet. Before all electric flight control systems and fly-by-wire technology were put into today's aircraft, they were much heavier and slower. That's because mechanical rods and connectors used to fly the aircraft were made of heavier materials. Now computers could relay the pilot instructions to various parts of the aircraft in order to maintain flight. The supercritical wing concept was also tested at NASA Dryden. It cuts through the air better, helping aircraft cruise faster with less fuel. Tests today at Dryden include research with the F-18 high-alpha research vehicle, X-31, SR-71 Blackbird, F-15 digital systems research aircraft, F-16 XL laminar airflow studies, and upper atmospheric studies with the remotely piloted Perseus. The people working here need to know many things, like math, science and computer skills. Communication skills are important as well. We need to be able to speak clearly and to be able to understand our fellow workers. Now let's take a look at some of the people in the labs and shops here at the Dryden Flight Research Center. This is the Thermostructures Lab, where people test all aspects of aircraft parts. Researchers would rather see what effects heat and stress have on aircraft components in a controlled environment versus in-flight. Also at Dryden, we make finely machined aircraft parts. In another section, people build and install sensitive electronics equipment and other aircraft parts. We maintain aircraft communications and navigational equipment. Technicians in the Environmental Testing Lab run the equipment through simulated flight conditions to ensure it's properly working before it flies. Here is our Flow Visualization Lab, or water tunnel. Model airplanes are fitted with dye vents, which provide engineers with a way to see how the dye flows around the aircraft. This flowing dye is similar to air flowing around the aircraft in flight. Adjustments made to the model can also apply to the aircraft and help improve flight. This is much less expensive than taking the aircraft into the wind tunnel for testing. Highly skilled computer technicians work in our data analysis facility. Here's where flight research data is processed and valuable flight information is shared with other NASA centers and test sites around the country. The people working in our simulation labs need a wide variety of highly technical and computer skills. Aircraft, flight simulators and computers create situations that are helpful for predicting how the aircraft will perform in flight. Our specially equipped control rooms are manned by experts who monitor various research gathering missions from the ground. Dryden's life support team keeps flight suits, parachutes, oxygen supplies and other necessary equipment ready for our flight crews to conduct their research. Now as you can see, NASA has helped shape aviation down through the years in many ways. We have sent people and machines into space, to the moon and are exploring other planets. We have satellites circling the globe that help people better predict the weather. And information gathered from some of NASA's computer simulations has even been used to make artificial heart valves. The Dryden Flight Research Center is a vital component in the overall NASA picture. What is being flight tested at Dryden today will most likely have an impact on tomorrow's air and spacecraft. How they'll look, how they'll fly and how safe they'll be.