What Are Wind Tunnels?

This text is from the "NASA Knows!" series from NASA.

tennis ball in a wind tunnel

NASA

A wind tunnel test shows how a tennis ball moves through the air.

Wind tunnels are tube-shaped facilities that allow engineers to move air over a vehicle as if it were flying. They help researchers to learn more about how an aircraft will fly. NASA uses wind tunnels to test scale models of aircraft and spacecraft. Some wind tunnels are big...