NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA research pilot Tom Ryan snapped this self-portrait while flying the ER-2 Earth Resources aircraft on a high-altitude mission over New Mexico with the MABEL laser instrument in April 2011. MABEL – short for Multiple Altimeter Beam Experimental Lidar – has been developed to demonstrate the photon-counting altimetry approach chosen to help scientists simulate measurements from NASA’s next ice-observing satellite, ICESat-2, scheduled for launch in 2016. (NASA / Tom Ryan)