Wen Painter, former NASA Dryden Flight Research Center lifting body project engineer, will discuss the famous wingless lifting bodies on Saturday, May 19, at the NASA Aerospace Exploration Gallery in the Palmdale Civic Center.
The first presentation will begin at 9 a.m., and will be repeated at 10:30, noon, and 1:30 p.m.
The radical lifting body aircraft proved that controlled flight without wings was possible. Additionally, lifting body flight research accomplished at NASA Dryden during the 1960s and 1970s contributed to the database that led to the design of the space shuttle.
Painter retired after 24 years as a research engineer and project manager at NASA Dryden. After a short stint as a test flying instructor at California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo, he then began a 20-year association with the National Test Pilot School in Mojave, Calif., as a flight test instructor. He currently works part-time for AS&M, Inc., as a consulting engineer at NASA Dryden on the Gulfstream III and Ikhana/Predator B flight research projects.
The lifting body presentation is also part of NASA Dryden’s continuing third-Saturday-of-the-month public programs at the exploration gallery, featuring a different speaker or demonstration of aerospace-related topics.
NASA Dryden operates the Aerospace Exploration Gallery in cooperation with the AERO Institute and the City of Palmdale. The gallery is located at the Palmdale Institute of Technology, 38256 Sierra Highway, near city hall in the Palmdale Civic Center. It is open free to the public Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information about NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and its research projects, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden on the Internet.
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Dryden Flight Research Center
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661/276-3449
FAX 661/276-3566
Gray Creech
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
(661) 276-2662 / 7315
gray.creech@dfrc.nasa.gov