Later the same year, a test airframe was subjected to a test simulating the temperatures and pressures occurring during a flight. The Tu-144 was placed in a hyperbaric chamber and heated to . Contraction and expansion happened because of the cooling during ascent and descent, heating during supersonic acceleration and cruise and because of the pressure change from high altitude (low outside pressure causing the airframe to expand) to ground-level pressure (causing it to contract). The airframe cracked in a similar way to that of the TsAGI load testing.
