a natural turndown in the pace of aerospace after the moon landing and the end of the Vietnam War. Despite the turndown and a corresponding reduction by the government in funding for AEDC and the number of its employees, the pace of testing held steady as nearly 3,000 test projects were completed in the decade. The list of systems tested during the decade read like a who's who of aerospace. Included on that list were the Space Transportation System, which would later be called the Space Shuttle, the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, B-1 Lancer bomber, A-10 Thunderbolt II, Pratt & Whitney F100 engine, MX missile, Sidewinder missile, Navy Tomahawk Cruise Missile, Air Force Air-Launched Cruise Missile and the Global Positioning Satellite. AEDC developed Laser-Illuminated Photography during the decade to better study projectiles in the center's ballistic Range G that would be traveling up to . The technique provided a photographic exposure equivalent to 20 billionths of a second. A heritage for environmental stewardship and uniqueness was born in 1976 when the Department of the Interior registered AEDC as a unique natural area. The honor recognized AEDC's superior management of fish and wildlife resources, conservation practices and environmental achievement. In a decade when the nation became energy conscious, AEDC helped to explore alternative energy sources. A 750-ton magnet was used as part of a magnetohydrodynamics research demonstration at the center, sponsored by the Department of Energy. The demonstration assessed the effectiveness of using a large MHD generator to boost coal's efficiency in producing electricity. AEDC later transferred the project to the University of Tennessee Space Institute. The conflict in the Persian Gulf at the beginning of the 1990s became a defining event in late 20th Century America. It also showed the world what AEDC had been doing in the 1980s. As people around the world watched from their living rooms, people saw the US score victories in Desert Storm. They also saw the end product of what AEDC people had been working on throughout the decade. From the Patriot Air Defense Missile to the F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter, AEDC people worked on every aerospace system deployed to the Persian Gulf. It was the first time technology showed up so dramatically in a real-world conflict, and it was a testament to the test and development work Arnold, von Karman and Wattendorf envisioned would be performed at AEDC. The 1980s also marked