The University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI), is a satellite campus of the University of Tennessee located near Tullahoma, Tennessee. UTSI was founded to allow students to take advantage of the aerospace facilities located in the Arnold Engineering Development Center on Arnold Air Force Base, including wind tunnels and other laboratory equipment. Currently, the research activities conducted at UTSI are largely through the Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering department. History UTSI was founded in the aftermath of World War II and in the midst of the Cold War. The seeds that ultimately led to UTSI began in the 1930s. German aeronautical superiority resulted in German fielding of the first jet propelled aircraft and ballistic missiles, thus proving the need for research facilities devoted to the study of aeronautics and related sciences. Had the German manufacturing capability been equivalent to that of the United States, the outcome of World War II would no doubt have been different. President Harry Truman vowed in 1951 that, "Never again will the United States ride the coattails of other countries in the progress and development of the aeronautical art." In the wake of World War II and in the following decades, the military expanded its research capabilities, creating laboratories across the country, including the construction of airplane and missile air frame and propulsion systems wind tunnels and laboratories at Tullahoma. Construction of this facility, which was to be known as Arnold Engineering Development Center, began in 1950. It was recognized that there would be difficulties in attracting scientific personnel to conduct research, or to analyze the results of testing in wind tunnels and engine test facilities. Numerous efforts were conducted while AEDC was under construction to develop a viable concept for an education and research institute that would exist in a collaborative relationship with AEDC. In 1952, an Institute of Flight Sciences was strongly recommended to foster graduate programs, lecture and symposia programs, and student research in the aeronautical sciences. General Jimmy Doolittle, Secretary of the Air Force Donald A. Quarles, Donald Douglas of Douglas Aircraft Company, along with NACA, MIT, and Caltech scientists supported the concept as sound and in the national interest. However, no consensus could be developed as to how to proceed and the concept was abandoned in 1959. In 1956, however, the Air Force decided it could not wait any longer and made contractual arrangements with the University of Tennessee to