Amid deeply furrowed fields 25 miles southeast of Moscow -- behind concrete walls, barbed wire and a sign reading FORBIDDEN ZONE -- sprawls the Central Aerohydrodynamics Institute. Employing 10,000 scientists and technicians, the research center combines the theoretical study of aerodynamics with practical experiments on airplanes and spacecraft. In one hangar-size workshop, stress- testing sensors cling like barnacles to prototypes of the new MiG-31 fighter and the next generation of Soviet civilian airliners, the Tu-204 and Il-114. Nearby is the T-128 transonic wind tunnel, where the space shuttle Buran and the Energiya booster rocket were tested with airstreams driven by a...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
