NASA Completes New Virginia Wind Tunnel to Replace Older Facilities

NASA Replaces Older Wind Tunnels with New Facility

As of late 2026, NASA has completed construction on the Flight Dynamics Research Facility (FDRF) in Virginia. This new state-of-the-art vertical wind tunnel is designed to replace two specific older facilities: the existing 20-foot Vertical Spin Tunnel and the 12-foot Low-Speed Tunnel. (Primary source)

The FDRF consolidates the test capabilities of these two legacy tunnels into a single, highly versatile, and cost-effective vertical wind tunnel. This consolidation offers significantly greater performance for conducting both free flight and captive testing on all manner of atmospheric flight vehicles. (Primary source)