After flying more than three decades and 158 science campaigns, just one flight remains. NASA’s DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory will make its final flight May 15 to Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, where it will be used to train future aircraft technicians by providing real-world experience in the college’s Aircraft Maintenance Technology Program. Before … Read more
NASA’s DC-8 aircraft – the world’s largest flying science laboratory – began its science missions in 1987 and since then, has flown in service of the science community over places like Antarctica, Greenland, and Thailand. Aircraft like the DC-8 have enabled scientists to ask questions about life on Earth and explore them in a way … Read more
NASA and Lockheed Martin formally debuted the agency’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft Friday. Using this one-of-a-kind experimental airplane, NASA aims to gather data that could revolutionize air travel, paving the way for a new generation of commercial aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound. “This is a major accomplishment made possible only … Read more
NASA’s C-130 Hercules, managed at Wallops Flight Facility’s Aircraft Office in Virginia, provided aerial delivery support for a successful commercial crew parachute airdrop test Jan. 9 at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. This week’s testing was in support of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and partner, Boeing, which are developing crew transportation capability to … Read more
It was an abundant year of innovation, exploration, and inspiration for NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA Armstrong continues to demonstrate America’s leadership in aeronautics, Earth and space science, and aerospace technology. Our researchers, engineers, and mission support teams continually seek to revolutionize aviation, add to mankind’s knowledge of the universe, and … Read more
Call for Papers Date: August 13–14, 2024Location: Washington, D.C. Jointly organized by the NASA History Office and the Earth Science Division, this workshop seeks to document the important contributions of airborne campaigns implemented on NASA’s DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory. The workshop will be a combination of keynote talks, panel discussions, and roundtables. The intention is … Read more
On Oct. 28, 2023, NASA’s C-130 Hercules and crew safely touched down at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, after an around-the-globe journey to deliver the agency’s Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO). The United States research station, operated by the National Science Foundation, is host to NASA’s Antarctic long-duration balloon campaign in which the GUSTO mission will take a scientific … Read more
This movie shows NASA’s X-43A demonstrating supersonic-combustion ramjet (scramjet) propulsion during two of its record-setting flights in 2004. Both flights, the first on Mar. 27 and the second on Nov. 16, 2004, demonstrated sustained thrust from the X-43A’s air-breathing scramjet engine, the first at nearly 5,000 mph, the second at nearly 7,000 mph, or almost … Read more