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Glenn Historic Facilities

For over 75 years, NASA's Glenn Research Center has been using its state-of-the-art test facilities to conduct research. Over time, however, some could not meet the requirements of newer technology, and the center has removed these under-utilized facilities, including several that made major technological contributions. This section documents these historic facilities and their impact.

Historic Facilities

Altitude Wind Tunnel drive fan
Altitude Wind Tunnel
The Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT), the nation’s first wind tunnel capable of studying full-scale engines under realistic flight conditions, played a ...
Cyclotron Facility
The Cyclotron Facility was built in the 1950s to study effects of radiation on materials for nuclear aircraft engines. The research expanded to general ...
Propulsion Systems Laboratory No. 1 and 2
The Propulsion Systems Laboratory (PSL) No. 1 and 2 was for years the nation’s most powerful facility for testing full-scale engines at simulated flight ...
Engine firing greenish flames in RETF stand.
Rocket Engine Test Facility
The Rocket Engine Test Facility (RETF) conducted experimental tests of high-energy propellants and rocket engine components that were integral to the U.S. ...
Camera man filming horizontal rocket firing at night.
Rocket Laboratory
The Rocket Laboratory at the NASA Glenn Research Center was critical to the development of high-energy liquid propellants such as liquid hydrogen in the ...
C Site at night with a hydrogen burnoff line to the left in 1962
Rockets Systems Area
The Rocket Systems Area at NASA GRC’s Plum Brook Station* was an essential to the development of liquid-hydrogen propulsion systems for rocket engines. The ...
A camera man films the firing of a GE I-40 engine with an afterburner behind the JPSL
Special Projects Laboratory
The Special Projects Laboratory (SPL) at NASA GRC played an important role in the center’s aeropropulsion research for over 70 years. The facility, named ...

About the History Office

NASA Glenn History Office
The NASA Glenn History Office documents the research, facilities, and people who have contributed to the center’s extensive history, manages the Glenn ...
SPC bulkhead.
Historic Preservation
NASA Glenn Research Center has a number of historic facilities, some of which have been demolished in recent years. Many of these sites had not been fully ...
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