Our tour of Dryden Flight Research Center began with a tour of the X-33 Simulation Room where software and hardware are tested in support of the first X-33 flight now scheduled for the summer of 2002.  Click here to go to the official X-33 website.  For more detailed information and the latest news on the X-33, go to the VentureStar® website.

Next, we each took a spin in the F/A-18 simulator.  The simulator is used to help test pilots before real flight test missions involving the Systems Research Aircraft (SRA). 
 

By far, the most exciting part of the trip was the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of the SR-71B.  Tail number 831 is the only existing SR-71B in the world of the two that were built.  NASA uses the SR-71 for high-speed research.
 
 
 
 

The second photo shows the raised instructor pilot's position behind the normal pilot's (student's) position.
 
 
 
 

The third photo shows the all-moving vertical stabilizer painted in NASA colors.  Below the vertical tail is the afterburner mixing chamber.
 
 
 
 

The X-43 Hyper-X Vehicle 1 was the next stop on the tour.  The slender nose of the vehicle is a single 400-lb. piece of milled tungsten.  The vehicle is scheduled to fly later this year on a Mach 7 flight over the Pacific Ocean.  In the picture at right, we are looking at the front of the vehicle.  The carbon-carbon edges have been removed from the leading edge.
 
 

Next we ate lunch, then headed over to the Mission Control Rooms from where flight test missions are monitored and controled.  A replay of the last F-15 ACTIVE mission was displayed on the overhead and station screens to show us how an actual mission is run.

There was much interest as vertern Space Shuttle Astronaut and NASA Test Pilot Gordon Fullerton spoke to us about his career.  Fullerton was a test pilot for the Propulsion Controlled Aircraft project and became the first U.S. pilot to fly the Tu-144 during a joint research program with the Russions.  Along with Fred Haise (Apollo 13 Astronaut), Fullerton flew Space Shuttle Enterprise on three test missions totalling about 11 minutes of flight.  Fullerton piloted STS-3 and commanded STS-26 (51-F), both eight-day missions.

Last, we had the pleasure of listening to Norma Navarro, Coordinator of Student Programs at NASA Dryden.  She spoke about the Cooperative Education Program and NASA Academy--two opportunities for students to work and learn at the premier flight test center in the world.