NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dryden has obtained a Shuttle Training Aircraft. The NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is at left. (NASA Photo / Tony Landis)
› View Larger Image NASA 944, one of four highly modified Gulfstream II Shuttle Training Aircraft, arrived at the center from Johnson Space Center in Houston Aug. 19 in preparation for its retirement and eventual static display at Dryden.

Space shuttle astronauts flew the aircraft to practice landing approaches to runways at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at Edwards and at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico during the shuttle program’s more than 30-year history. The modified G-IIs were capable of simulating flying characteristics of the unpowered space shuttles during the shuttles’ steep final approach to landing.

With the conclusion of the shuttle program, all four training aircraft are being retired at various NASA facilities around the country.





The modified Gulfstream II aircraft enabled astronauts to practice shuttle landing conditions at Edwards. The STA cockpit resembles that of a space shuttle. (NASA Photo / Tony Landis)
› View Larger Image By Jay Levine
X-Press Editor