When I first started at NASA, I worked as part of a team doing aircraft design studies. We were studying new fighter aircraft concepts and were trying to determine the right airplane size and shape. We also looked at how different kinds of engines affected the aircraft. After that, I went to work in the wind tunnels as a research engineer. My job was to make sure we started a test with a good idea of what we wanted to learn and a plan or schedule for fitting all of the work into the time we had the tunnel for.
Planning can take a few months or more for a big complicated test.
During a test, which might last a few weeks or a few months at the longest, I help to juggle all of the different things we had planned with the practical realities of real-world testing. This is something like building a picture puzzle while other people change the shape of the pieces. It is exciting and challenging, and rather intense. Some of my wind tunnel tests were long and complicated, involving dozens of people. Right now, I have a new, temporary job assignment.