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Faster Than Sound
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Program Overview
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Until fifty years ago, a speed limit called the sound barrier ruled the skies.
Pilots who attempted to fly near the speed of sound experienced unexpected
conditions—increase in drag, loss of lift and control, and violent
shaking—which often led to planes crashing. In 1947, pilot Chuck Yeager
flew an aircraft through the sound barrier and lived to tell about it, making
the sound barrier no longer a barrier after all. NOVA explores the human,
historical, technological, and political issues surrounding the effort to
design airplanes able to safely fly faster than the speed of sound and
investigates the scientists and pilots who tested these limits.
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