NASA Aircraft More News
Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we enable the Agency’s myriad missions, from preparing astronauts to go to space, to studying Earth from the air, to developing leading-edge aeronautic technologies.
NASA, Partners Explore Sustainable Fuel’s Effects on Aircraft Contrails
Contrails, the lines of clouds from high-flying aircraft that crisscross the skies, are familiar sights, but they may have an…
NASA C-130 Makes First-Ever Flight to Antarctica for GUSTO Balloon Mission
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…
Forget Movie Magic, NASA Armstrong has the Real Thing
Early in the blockbuster movie “Top Gun: Maverick,” U.S. Navy Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell takes the secret hypersonic “Darkstar” airplane…
NASA to Showcase Revolutionary Aero Tech at Aviation Day Event
NASA to Showcase Revolutionary Aero Tech at Aviation Day Event
95 years ago: First Human Rocket-Powered Aircraft Flight
The idea of rocket propelled aircraft originated in the automobile racing world and saw its first application on June 11,…
Wallops Hosts Thunderbirds During Ocean City Air Show
The United States Air Force Thunderbirds arrived at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility this week. The flight teams are stationed at…
Flying with NASA – Digital-Fly-By-Wire
One of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s greatest contributions to commercial aviation is something that passengers never see – digital…
What is the Vertical Motion Simulator?
The world’s largest flight simulator for high-fidelity testing of new and experimental aircraft and spacecraft designs Driven by powerful motors…
Keeping NASA Armstrong Aircraft Safe
Flying unique, one-of-a-kind aircraft is one of the specialties of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. A process,…
NASA’s X-59 Tail Installed
NASA’s X-59 has undergone final installation of its lower empennage, better known as the tail assembly. NASA’s X-59 has undergone…
NASA’s ER-2 Completes Snowstorm Study Support
NASA’s ER-2 high-altitude aircraft, based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, completed more than 30 flights in…
NASA’s Retired SOFIA Aircraft Finds New Home at Arizona Museum
NASA’s now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft will find a permanent home in the Pima Air & Space…
New NASA Aircraft Helps Researchers Evaluate Technologies for Urban Transport Systems
When researchers test communications technology for the national airspace, they will be using a newly acquired tool at NASA’s Glenn…
Jet Engine Installed on NASA’s X-59
NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 now has the engine that will power it in flight. The installation of the F414-GE-100 engine…
NASA Armstrong Completes F/A-18E Tests
Understanding what stress, or strain, an aircraft can endure is critical to carrying out its intended mission. To better understand…
Congresswoman Eshoo Tours SOFIA Flying Observatory Upon Its Retirement
On Oct. 14, 2022, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo and Eugene Tu, center director at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s…
The NACA’s XF-82 Twin Mustang Returns to Flight After 70 Years
On December 14, 1949, an XF-82 Twin Mustang aircraft hit patches of ice and skidded sideways off the runway after…
NASA’s Super Guppy Delivers Rocket Test Article to Marshall
Teams at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, unloaded the Orion stage adapter (OSA) structural test article from…
NASA Flies Students on DC-8 to Study Air Quality
A group of university students and mentors flew aboard NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s DC-8 aircraft to study air quality…
NASA, Partner Decide to Conclude SOFIA Mission
NASA and its partners at the German Space Agency at the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) will conclude…
NASA’s X-59 Arrives Back in California Following Critical Ground Tests
The X-59, NASA’s quiet supersonic experimental aircraft, has arrived back at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, following…
NASA’s ER-2 No. 806 Returns to Flight
NASA’s ER-2 high-altitude aircraft No. 806 returned to flight after three years of significant modifications and heavy maintenance. Flying from…
NASA’s New Material Built to Withstand Extreme Conditions
NASA innovators recently developed a new metal alloy using a 3D printing process that dramatically improves the strength and durability…
NASA’s X-59 Calls on Texas for Key Testing
It appears the road to enabling a future that includes convenient commercial supersonic air travel over land demands a substantial…
NASA Planes Fly into Snowstorms to Study Snowfall
Scientists repeatedly check the weather forecasts as they prepare aircraft for flight and perform last-minute checks on science instruments. There’s…
Exploring Earth: Student Airborne Researchers fly on NASA’s DC-8
After a year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 53 students flew on NASA’s DC-8 as part of NASA’s Student…
‘Roving With Perseverance’: NASA Mars Rover and Helicopter Models on Tour
Catch Mars mania as a traveling exhibit visits more than a dozen towns across the U.S. with lifelike models of…
X-59 Resembles Actual Aircraft
A heavy chorus of bolting and machinery filled the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology, or QueSST, assembly building as engineers, system…
NASA Retires a Research Workhorse
When the U.S. Navy retired its fleet of S-3B Vikings from active duty in 2009, not all of them were…
X-57 High-Voltage Testing Continues
As the propellers on the X-57 Maxwell aircraft spin for the first time under electric power at NASA’s Armstrong Flight…
