A front view of the Tupolev Tu-144LL supersonic flying laboratory at the Zhukovsky Air Development Center near Moscow, Russia.
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A front view of the Tupolev Tu-144LL supersonic flying laboratory at the Zhukovsky Air Development Center near Moscow, Russia. The plane’s nose droops down for take off and landing and is then raised for high-speed flight. Two NASA research pilots – Robert Rivers of NASA Langley and Gordon Fullerton of NASA Dryden – assessed the Tu-144LL’s handling qualities at subsonic and supersonic speeds during the first three flights in September, 1998. The follow-on series concluded after four data-collection flights in the spring of 1999.September 1998NASA Photo / Jim Ross› TU-144LL Project Description