NASA’s DC-8 airborne science laboratory banks low over the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.
NASA used this DC-8 aircraft as a flying science laboratory. The platform aircraft, based at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, collects data for many experiments in support of scientific projects serving the world scientific community. Included in this community are NASA, federal, state, academic and foreign investigators. Data gathered by the DC-8 at flight altitude and by remote sensing have been used for scientific studies in archeology, ecology, geography, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, volcanology, atmospheric chemistry, soil science and biology.
Gulfstream III in flight over NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.
The C-140 JetStar was reconfigured as the General Purpose Airborne Simulator (GPAS) to simulate the flight characteristics of other aircraft.
The NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas is the home of the NASA WB-57 High Altitude Research Program.
The N616NA Learjet 25 features special fuselage pods to mount various scientific instruments for the NASA Airborne Science Program.