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When constructed in the early 1940s, the Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) was the Nation’s only wind tunnel capable of studying full-scale engines under realistic flight conditions. It played a significant role in the development of the first U.S. jet engines as well as technologies such as the afterburner and variable-area nozzle. In the late 1950s, the center removed the tunnel’s interior components to test hardware for Project Mercury in altitude conditions. In 1961, the tunnel was converted into one of the country’s first large vacuum tanks to support the Centaur rocket program.