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The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, spacecraft is pictured after its atmospheric re-entry test in November 2022.
A space vehicle enters an blue-sky atmosphere with the underside of its conical aeroshell glowing with heat

Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL)

Langley Engineering conduct analyses, testing, concept development, and demonstrations to develop advanced Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) technologies enabling future human and robotic exploration and science missions, including aerobraking, aerocapture, advanced hypersonic and supersonic entry systems, terminal descent, and landing systems.

Learn More About EDL Missions about Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL)

Engineering Directorate

Associate, Director for Entry, Descent & Landing

Ronald Merski

EDL Capabilities

Learn more about the capabilities of the Langley Engineering EDL team.

In this illustration of its descent to Mars, the spacecraft containing NASA's Perseverance rover slows down using the drag generated by its motion in the Martian atmosphere.

Mission Design and Simulation

Entry Systems Modeling (ESM)

Aerosciences Environments and Databases

Orion Structural Test Article lands in the hydro impact basin at NASA's Langley Research Center

Ground and Flight Testing

Flight Operations

Engineering EDL Leadership

Learn more about the leadership of the Langley Engineering EDL team.

Ron Merski in studio photo

Ronald N. Merski

Associate Director for Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL)