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NASA Aircraft

NASA maintains a fleet of aircraft that enable the agency to conduct its aeronautical research, study our planet, train its astronauts, and otherwise operate its many air and space programs. This page will be a constantly growing and evolving home for information about NASA aircraft past and present.

Latest NASA Aircraft News

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A Fond Farewell: NASA’s C-130 Begins New Mission in California

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Testing in the Clouds: NASA Flies to Improve Satellite Data

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Going Home: NASA Retires S-3B Viking to POW/MIA Museum

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The NACA: Launching the Future of Flight

Feature
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NASA Runs X-59 Engine with Maximum Afterburner for First Time

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aircraft Flown at armstrong FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER

See List of Armstrong's Aircraft Fleet

Gulfstream III

Aerodynamics Research Test Bed

ER-2

High-Altitude Science Aircraft

F-15B

Aeronautics Research Test Bed

NASA's remotely piloted Global Hawk aircraft will complete a series of flights in February to support the NOAA.

Global Hawk

Unmanned Aerial System

NASA Encyclopedia

X-Planes Past and Present at Armstrong

Experimental aircraft, or X-planes, are built for a wide range of research purposes – technology or concept demonstrators, unmanned test missiles, and even as prototypes. Here is an overview of X-planes researched and tested at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California

Learn More About X-Planes at Armstrong
Pilot A. Scott Crossfield is visible in the cockpit of the X-15 shortly before the release from the B-52 carrier aircraft. Image credit: courtesy North American Aviation.
Pilot A. Scott Crossfield is visible in the cockpit of the X-15 shortly before the release from the B-52 carrier aircraft.
North American Aviation

Airborne Science Program

NASA's Airborne Science Program, located within the Earth Science Division, is responsible for providing aircraft systems that further science and advance the use of satellite data. A number of NASA aircraft stationed at field centers around the country are available to support the program.

See the List of NASA Aircraft Involved
A large white aircraft sits inside a hangar. A forklift sits to the right most edge of the image.
Originally used to search for submarines during the Cold War, this Lockheed Orion P3 has conducted airborne science for NASA since 1991! It has been to all seven continents many times.
NASA
coming to an airport near you in 2050?

NASA Funds New Studies Looking at Future of Sustainable Aircraft

Picture yourself at an airport a few decades from now. What does your airliner look like? It’s more efficient, with lower emissions than today’s aircraft – what kinds of designs or technology make that possible? NASA is working to answer those questions by commissioning five new design studies looking to push the boundaries of possibility for sustainable aircraft. 

Read the story and see the ideas
An artist’s concept that depicts an airliner with two propeller engines on each wing resting on airport tarmac. The aircraft is viewed through a window and, in the foreground, a small child with dark hair and a yellow backpack looks at it, with his hand resting on the glass. Sustainable infrastructure is visible in the far background, including wind turbines and large tanks with LH2 written on them, the formula for liquid hydrogen, a potential alternate fuel source.
Artist’s concept of a 50-60 passenger hydrogen fuel cell electric plane created by Boeing through its future flight concept efforts. Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing Company, received an award through NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability 2050 initiative to examine new alternative aviation fuels propulsion systems, aerodynamic technologies, and aircraft configurations, along with other technology areas.
Boeing
aircraft operations

Johnson Space Center

The Houston-based space center plays host to a number of NASA aircraft that are used for astronaut training and flight proficiency, transport of oversized cargo, and hosting airborne science investigations of planet Earth.

Read About the JSC Aircraft
NASA Johnson Center Aircraft. The large image is of the Super Guppy and the smaller images (left to right): 1. WB57 (N926NA, N927NA, & N928NA), G-V (N95NA), T-38 Fleet and the G-III (N992NA).
NASA Johnson Center Aircraft. The large image is of the Super Guppy and the smaller images (left to right): 1. WB57 (N926NA, N927NA, & N928NA), G-V (N95NA), T-38 Fleet and the G-III (N992NA).
NASA

NASA Aircraft

45 Images
NASA's X-59 sits parked outside its hangar.
NASA’s X-59 sits partially in a white hangar and emits bright flames with visible shock diamonds from its engine at sunset during maximum afterbu...
A four-engine turboprop aircraft in a red and white livery takes off from a runway on its way to be modified into a hybrid electric aircraft. Other...
Against a clear sky, the vertical tail fins of three F-15 jets used by NASA are seen, some displaying a NASA logo.
Sunset view of the DC-8 parked on the tarmac is getting inspected.
In this illustration, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface
NASA T-38s fly in formation above the Space Launch System rocket on Launch Pad 39B.
The X-1E rocket plane sits on a pedestal stand in front of the main entrance to an office building.
The Bell X-1 suspended from the ceiling of the National Air and Space Museum's main gallery in Washington, DC.
The X-1E aircraft dominates the foreground of this photo. It is white, with its designation written on its side in big orange letters. The Moon is ...
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Support Aircraft and Maintenance Operations Overview

Support Aircraft and Maintenance Operations (SAMO)’s mission support aircraft are flexible, adaptable, and agile platforms that are real-time in-situ research facilities to collect, process, exploit, and disseminate the best research data possible, as quickly as possible to demonstrate technologies and concepts, in the toughest environments.

Learn More About SAMO
An aircraft is towed at sunset.
A NASA F/A-18 is towed to the apron at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California during sunrise over Rogers Dry Lake. The F/A-18 was used to test a transmitter for an air navigation system, called the Airborne Location Integrating Geospatial Navigation System, or ALIGNS. This system, designed to allow pilots to position their aircraft at precise distances to each other, will be critical for acoustic validation efforts of NASA’s next supersonic X-plane, the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology.
NASA/Lauren Hughes

Here is Some Other Cool NASA Aeronautics Stuff to Check Out

Artist Bob McCall

Aeronautics @ Home

A collection of activities and lessons to learn more about NASA Aeronautics and the science of flight that you can do at home.

Two U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School T-38 aircraft flying in formation at supersonic speed.

STEM Learning Resources

Explore hands-on activities, interactive lesson plans, educator guides, and other downloadable content related to aeronautics.

A scale model of an airplane with long and skinny wings supported by a truss is suspended within a wind tunnel for testing. The four walls of the wind tunnel are silver with a blue light illuminating the background.

Aeronautics Backgrounds

Take video calls from your home or office in the cockpit of the X-59 or from inside a wind tunnel! And other aviation themes.

A book cover featuring a pilot wearing an orange pressure suit with its visor closed.

Free E-Books to Download

Add these books covering NASA Aeronautics and other aviation and space topics to your electronic library.

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NASA X Video Files

This binge worthy page collects aeronautics-themed topics from the popular NASA X video series.

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Other Aeronautics topics

Even More Aeronautics
Artist illustration of the X-59 in flight over a surbuban neighborhood.

Supersonic Flight

Research about flying faster than the speed of sound.

Aerospace Cognitive Engineering Lab Rapid Automation Test Environment; (ACEL-RATE) in N262 showing out-the-window views of San Francisco for UAM UTM Ride Quality Simulation project.

Flight Innovation

Stories about pioneering the frontiers of 21st century flight.

The Moog SureFly aircraft hovers above Cincinnati Municipal Airport during an acoustic hover test.

Drones & You

All about new ways to get from here to there in the air.

In this image, captured using data from a wind-tunnel test, the red and orange areas represent higher drag, and the green and bl

Ultra-Efficient Aviation

Learn about research to make aviation more sustainable.

Airplane outside it's gate at the airport.

Air Traffic Solutions

Read about how NASA is opening up the sky for all.

F-15s on Armstrong Ramp

NASA Aircraft

Information about NASA's fleet of aircraft.

Sunset view of the DC-8 parked on the tarmac is getting inspected.

Science in the Air

News about using NASA aircraft to better understand our world.

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Missions

Humans In Space

Solar System Exploration

Eyes on the Solar System

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