NASA’s Flying Fish: Riding Aboard the Super Guppy Aircraft

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — On Saturday (June 30), visitors to The Museum of Flight in Seattle will get an up-close look at a very unusual NASA aircraft. In fact, it’s not uncommon for air traffic controllers and even fellow pilots who spot the "Super Guppy" to ask a simple but telling question: “What are you?”

I got to find out first-hand. On Thursday, I was invited by NASA to not just tour but fly aboard the Super Guppy , a bulbous cargo plane, as it flew between air bases near Los Angeles and San Francisco. The 90-minute trip up the California coast is one I won’t soon forget, and according to the Super Guppy’s flight crew, it was a rarity — perhaps even a first — for a civilian reporter.

I caught up with the Super Guppy — which is the last in a small fleet of Guppy aircraft flying after 50 years — at March Air Reserve Base in southern California. It’s there that I met the team I’d be flying with, including flight engineers Michael Robinson and David Elliot, aircraft mechanics and loadmasters Dan Thompson, Bob Coyne and Don Myrick, and pilots Dick Clark and Greg C. “Ray-J” Johnson.

If one of those names sounds familiar, it should. Johnson is a NASA astronaut and one of the stars of the IMAX movie “Hubble 3D.” Before piloting the Super Guppy, he piloted space shuttle Atlantis on the fifth and final mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.

Before I boarded the Guppy, I had the chance to see it take off and land. Its “swollen” appearance — it looks like a cartoon anthropomorphic plane that held in a massive sneeze — is as deceptive as it is daunting. [Gallery: Soaring with Seattle's Space Shuttle Trainer]

The Guppy looks like it shouldn’t be able to fly, especially when you consider that its cargo hold, which measures 111 feet long by 25 feet wide by 25 feet high (34 by 8 by 8 meters) can carry payloads weighing upwards of 26 tons.

So when it came to take my seat, I’ll admit there was just a slight hesitation. Not that I doubted my flight crew’s skills or even the safety record of the Super Guppy, but just what it would feel like in-flight.

It didn’t help all that much seeing our payload for this leg of the Guppy’s three-day trip to Seattle sitting in the cargo hold. Inside the plane was a space shuttle. To be clear, it was just the 16,000-pound (7,300 kilograms), 28-foot (8.5 m) nose section of a shuttle mockup. Part of the Full Fuselage Trainer (FFT), the crew compartment was used to train every person who flew on the real shuttles over the span of three decades.

Now it was the FFT’s turn to fly — and mine.

Welcome aboard

I was shown to my chair, a two-seat couch in the rear of the Guppy’s cockpit. These seats, and the seats to my left, are where the aircraft’s mechanics sit. In front of me was the flight engineer’s station and in front of that, the pilots’ seats. What really caught my eye, though, was what was in front of them: windows, and a lot of them.

From outside, the sheer size and dimensions of the Super Guppy grab your attention. But inside, the panoramic, 180-degree view out the forward floor-length windows are the star attraction. The only way to get a better view of the ground would be to swing open the nose of the Guppy, which can rotate 200 degrees to load its large payloads.

From my seat at the rear of the cockpit, I had to crane my neck to see just a sliver of the action. But any thought of unbuckling my seat belt and standing up to get a better view was erased when the crew powered up the Guppy’s four turboprop engines for takeoff.

"We’re going to use most of the runway," Johnson said to his crewmates. The sudden burst of speed — we had been taxiing for a few minutes — pushed me back into my seat. It was a lot bumpier than a commercial airline, too. But the transition from ground to air was smooth, almost unnoticeable, and the climb to altitude was a lot slower than the commercial flight that brought me to California.

The gradual climb was a good thing, too. It gave Thompson, outfitted with knee pads and gloves, time to jump into the cargo hold to climb over and around the shuttle trainer to make sure it was still chained down and where it was supposed to be. [Images: NASA's Visions for Future Airplanes]

Once he finished, Myrick and Coyne went down into the lower cargo hold to shut the lower door that separates the unpressurized back of the plane from the pressurized cockpit.

We climbed to 14,000 feet (4,267 m), the Guppy’s cruising altitude, and were told by the tower to head out over the water for Santa Catalina Island and then head toward Los Angeles.

"There’s the Pacific Ocean, boys," said someone toward the front of the cockpit. "Ten bucks for anyone who sees a whale."

Window seat

The only cetacean in sight, however, was the flying variety. The aircraft may be called the Guppy, but it’s much more akin to a whale: large, slow-moving and possessing a voracious appetite — for fuel.

The most frequent callout among the crewmembers was a check of the remaining fuel, for the huge Guppy burns through its reserves at a rapid pace. As such, flying west and then north was not the most efficient use of the Guppy’s gas.

Clark called the tower and requested to go to VFR — visual flight rules — rather than follow the out-and-about flight plan the tower had chosen. We gradually banked right and began following the coast north.

It was about this time that my view got a whole lot better. Myrick had set a small garbage pail behind Clark and offered me a seat. From here, I had a bank of windows to my right and Clark to my left. I could view both the cockpit controls and the spectacular landscapes we were passing.

Sightseeing turns out to be a good way to pass the time. Both Clark and Johnson took turns pointing out airfields, city spots and natural landmarks. This wasn’t for my benefit; it was for them. I was just happy to take advantage of their geographical skills (and the GPS running on an Apple iPad positioned between them).

We flew over John Wayne Airport in Orange County, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and the nearby Rose Bowl stadium. In the distance we could see Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4,421 m) the tallest peak in the continental United States. And depending on who you talk to on the crew, we may have seen Yosemite National Park, too.

But the most memorable sight, at least to me, was the dry lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base. Clearly visible was Runway 22, the same landing strip where Johnson landed on space shuttle Atlantis in 2009. (After the flight, I asked Johnson about the differences between flying the shuttle and the Guppy. He told me the shuttle flies a lot faster but the Guppy flies a lot heavier.) [10 Military Aircraft That Never Made it Past Test Phase]

Thank you for flying

When we weren’t looking out the window, the crew focused on their flying — and their snacks. There were “Guppy Gummies” — I didn’t get a good look at them so I don’t know if they were fish-shaped or not — and beef jerky, Johnson’s favorite (he brought jerky with him to space).

I didn’t get the sense they were censoring their behavior because I was there, or because two GoPro cameras were documenting the trip for The Museum of Flight. Rather, they were a professional crew who respected the Super Guppy and were proud of their service to NASA.

The landing at Travis Air Force Base was much smoother than I expected. Make no mistake, it was still bumpy, but despite the crosswinds, the touchdown was far from jarring. You could almost forget that there was a space shuttle nose in the very large trunk. Almost.

Back on the ground, it was time for me to part ways with the Guppy. I’ll be in Seattle on Saturday, however, to see the cargo plane — and its crew — arrive to well-deserved fanfare. They may have been delivering a piece of space shuttle history, but their ride should enjoy a little time in the spotlight, too.

Robert Z. Pearlman is the editor of collectSPACE.com, the leading online space history publication and a SPACE.com partner. See collectSPACE.com for more photos and continuing coverage of the Super Guppy’s flight to Seattle.

You can follow @robertpearlman on Twitter or on Facebook. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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NASA Veterans Plea to Keep the Space Shuttles Flying (ContributorNetwork)

On the eve of the last flight of the space shuttle ever, a group of men whose names define the history of the civil space program, spanning both the Apollo and shuttle eras, have published an open letter calling for the retention of the shuttle fleet.

The arguments presented by the group, which include Apollo Moonwalkers, former space shuttle pilots, and NASA flight controllers, are well presented.

"The Space Shuttle fleet is the only spacecraft, now operating or under development, that is equipped with the airlocks, life support supplies and robotic arm needed to support the required two-person spacewalking repair crews. We believe the Space Shuttle fleet should be kept in service to provide the capability of independent repair spacewalks in the event that the International Space Station is crippled by a systems failure or accident. The Space Shuttles would also be available to support one or two logistics and science missions per year, provide unmatched capacity to return components and scientific experiments to Earth (with low gravitational loads on crew and cargo during reentry) and extend the reliability of space station operations with a Service Life Extension Program.

"The capability of the Space Shuttles to provide the independent repair spacewalks, critical for restoring operations on a disabled ISS, would also be vital for protecting the ISS cargo and crew transport business of the emerging commercial space industry. Keeping the shuttle fleet in service would also comply with a new, internationally accepted flight criteria that we believe should be established: Any object placed in orbit that is too large for an uncontrolled reentry must have a spacecraft available to support independent EVA repairs."

The group recommends that the decommissioning of the space shuttles be halted to allow for a study ascertaining what it would take to allow the shuttles to keep flying. They also suggest that the last shuttle flight be delayed to allow for the construction of more spare parts, such as shuttle main fuel tanks, that would allow for a continuation of the space shuttle program. They finally suggest that cost sharing arrangements be initiated among the space station partners for such an effort.

There have been studies in the past to allow a two flight a year regime by a reduced space shuttle fleet to fill the "space launch gap" between the now scheduled end of the space shuttle program and the presumed beginning of commercial crew operations later in this decade.

Reconstituting the supply chain and support infrastructure for the space shuttles would be a daunting task. It would be a doable task, if there were money to pay for it. That is the sticking point. It would cost an enormous amount of money to continue the space shuttle program that frankly is not likely to materialize.

The original plan for the Constellation program, now cancelled by the Obama administration, was to partly pay for it with the savings wrought by cancelling the shuttle program. The space flight gap at the time of the decision seemed manageable. But funding shortfalls and technical problems have expanded the gap wide enough so that the lack of a space shuttle and, indeed, the lack of any American controlled access to space has become a clear and present danger.

Unfortunately a lack of leadership from NASA and the Obama administration means that the gap is not likely to be closed; it might, in fact, widen if the commercial crew program encounters problems. Short of an unprecedented effort by the Obama administration and the Congress to deal with the problem, the gap and all of its inherent dangers will remain.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.

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Flying Saucers Turn 64! A Look Back at the Origin of UFOs (SPACE.com)

Natalie Wolchover, Life's Little Mysteries Staff Writer
Space.com Natalie Wolchover, Life's Little Mysteries Staff Writer
space.com – Fri Jun 24, 2:30 pm ET

On June 24, 1947, an amateur pilot named Kenneth Arnold was flying a small plane near Mount Rainier in Washington state when he saw something extraordinarily strange. Directly to his left, about 20 to 25 miles north of him and at the same altitude, a chain of nine objects shot across the sky, glinting in the sun as they traveled.

By comparing their size to that of a distant airplane, Arnold gauged the objects to be about 45 to 50 feet wide. They flew between two mountains spaced 50 miles apart in just 1 minute, 42 seconds, he observed, implying an astonishing speed of 1,700 miles per hour, or three times faster than any manned aircraft of the era. However, as if controlled, the flying objects seemed to dip and swerve around obstacles in the terrain.

When the objects faded into the distance, Arnold flew to Yakima, Wash., landed and immediately told the airport staff of the unidentified flying objects he had spotted. The next day, he was interviewed by reporters, and the story spread like wildfire across the nation.

"At that time there was still some thought that Mars or perhaps Venus might have a habitable surface," Robert Sheaffer, an author of UFO books (and a skeptic), told Life's Little Mysteries. "People thought these UFOs were Martians who had come to keep an eye on us now that we had nuclear weapons."

As time would prove, this was but the first of many outlandish theories behind visits of an extraterrestrial nature. The era of UFO sightings had begun.

Reporting error

Arnold's sighting was "such a sensation that it made front page news across the nation," UFO-logist and author Martin Kottmeyer wrote in an article ("The Saucer Error," REALL News, 1993).

"Soon everyone was looking for these new aircraft which according to the papers were saucer-like in shape," Kottmeyer continued. "Within weeks hundreds of reports of these flying saucers were made across the nation. While people presumably thought they were seeing the same things that Kenneth Arnold saw, there was a major irony that nobody at the time realized. Kenneth Arnold hadn't reported seeing flying saucers." [10 Alien Encounters Debunked]

In fact, Arnold had told the press that the objects had flown erratically, "like a saucer if you skip it across the water." They were thin and flat when viewed on edge, he said, but crescent-shaped when viewed from the top down as they turned. Nonetheless, a reporter named Bill Bequette of the United Press interpreted Arnold's statement to mean that the objects he saw were round discs. According to Benjamin Radford, UFO expert and deputy editor of the Skeptical Inquirer, "It was one of the most significant reporter misquotes in history."

"The phrase 'flying saucers' provided the mold which shaped the UFO myth at its beginning," Kottmeyer wrote. UFOs took the form of flying saucers, he noted, in artist's renderings, hoax photos, sci-fi films, TV shows and even the vast majority of alien abduction and sighting reports for the rest of modern history, up until the present day.

"Bequette's error may not prove to be the ultimate refutation of the extraterrestrial theory for everyone. But it does leave their advocates in one helluva paradox: Why would extraterrestrials redesign their craft to conform to Bequette's mistake?" Kottmeyer wrote. [Could Extraterrestrials Really Invade Earth, and How?]

For the birds

Though he didn't see flying saucers, most of Arnold's contemporaries believed that he really had seen something that day. The Army report on the sighting states: "[If] Mr. Arnold could write a report of such a character and did not see the objects he was in the wrong business and should be engaged in writing Buck Rogers fiction." His account was very convincing.

So if he did see something, what was it exactly?

One theory holds that it was a fireball — a meteor breaking up upon entry into the atmosphere. If a meteor hit the atmosphere at a shallow angle to the Earth, its pieces would approach the surface traveling almost horizontally. Furthermore, the pieces of meteor would travel in a chain like the one Arnold saw, would shine very brightly, and would travel at thousands of miles per hour.

But most historians think the objects weren't from outer space at all: "It was probably pelicans flying in formation," Sheaffer said. "Probably Arnold misjudged the distance and thought they were huge objects at a great distance but they were actually much closer."

After all, the boomerang shape that Arnold drew in a picture of the objects he had seen looks very much like a bird with its wings outstretched.

This story was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to Space.com. Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover.

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Privately Built SpaceShipTwo Keeps Passing Glide Tests with Flying Colors (SPACE.com)

SpaceShipTwo, a privately built rocket plane designed to take tourists on suborbital flights, continues to chalk up more flight time as it glides through the skies over the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

Another successful glide of the first SpaceShip Two craft, christened VSS Enterprise, took place June 23, marking the 14th glide flight test of the vessel — an 8-minute, 55-second free fall after midair release from its mothership. The test came a week after VSS Enterprise proved it could be flown on back-to-back days.

The two-pilot SpaceShipTwo is designed to rocket six paying passengers on a suborbital trajectory to space without making a full orbit around the Earth. The ride to the edge of space will come at a per-seat price of $200,000.

The spaceship was designed and built by the firm Scaled Composites for Virgin Galactic, the commercial space company founded by British entrepreneur and adventurer Sir Richard Branson. [Photos: SpaceShipTwo's First Solo Glide Flight] VSS Enterprise is the first of five commercial suborbital spacecraft being constructed for Virgin Galactic by Scaled Composites.

Free falling

According to Virgin Galactic, all objectives of the fledgling spacecraft's recent test flights were met.

"Another good flight test for the program, on a beautiful Mojave morning," said George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic's CEO.

"This is what Scaled is so good at: flying, testing, and learning in a rapid cycle of innovation. The high flight rate is a positive indication of the vehicles’ ability to fly frequently and safely," he told SPACE.com.

SpaceShipTwo testing is headed for a quiet period starting in July, as the Scaled team analyzes the data from the test flight program to date.

"This summer Scaled will be going through the data to make sure they apply any important lessons … to the next phase of test flights," Whitesides said. "We’re proceeding with the diverse set of tasks required to set up the spaceline, from planning spaceport operations to customer training procedures to ongoing business development."

Fast turnaround

The test followed another milestone for SpaceShipTwo June 14 and 15: two successful glide flights within 24 hours.

"This was the quickest turnaround time yet between VSS Enterprise solo flights, reinforcing the unique and transformational ability of Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight system to undertake daily flights to space," Virgin Galactic said in a statement.

The June 14-15 flights saw early-morning takeoffs for VSS Enterprise in mated configuration with the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, followed by high-altitude releases at around 52,000 feet (15,800 meters) and glides back to smooth touchdowns on the Mojave Air and Space Port runway. [Video: SpaceShipTwo Passes Re-Entry System Test]

Both flights were part of a continuing program of envelope expansion, specifically focusing on speed and susceptibility for flutter.

Virgin Galactic sees the quick turnaround between flights as an important factor in its planned commercial operations: daily flights of both carrier aircraft and spaceship, to accommodate the system’s use by both space tourists and researchers.

Campaign of piloted glide tests

Since its public rollout in December 2009, SpaceShipTwo has undergone a campaign of piloted glide tests, including two "feathered" flights – involving a configuration in which the rocket plane rotated its tail section upwards to a 65-degree angle to the fuselage.

That novel feathered feature is key to flights in which the craft will return into the dense atmosphere from the vacuum of space. Following re-entry from a full suborbital spaceflight at around 70,000 feet (21,000 meters), the feather lowers to its original configuration and the spaceship becomes a glider for the flight back down to a spaceport runway.

SpaceShipTwo has been put through an ever-expanding set of shakeout objectives, starting with its maiden free flight on Oct. 10, 2010.

Future flight manifest

On the future flight manifest is a test run using a hybrid motor mounted within SpaceShipTwo. That powerhouse engine is being crafted by Sierra Nevada Corp. Short bursts to ever-longer burns of the motor in-flight are being planned, with the date of the first in-flight firing of the motor still to be determined.

The VSS Enterprise test flight program will continue through 2011.

Commercial operations will be based at Virgin Galactic’s future headquarters at Spaceport America in New Mexico.

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is a winner of this year's National Space Club Press Award and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.

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John Glenn: Keep U.S. space shuttles flying

By Marcia Dunn, Associated PressCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Mercury astronaut John Glenn, now 88, wants NASA's space shuttles to keep flying until their replacement is ready.Glenn joined the national debate Monday over America's future in space and became the latest ex-astronaut to speak out on the matter. He issued a nine-page statement in which he questioned the decision to retire the shuttle fleet and rely on Russia to take astronauts to the International Space Station.

"We have a vehicle here, why throw it away? It's working well," the first American to orbit Earth said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Glenn said he's against paying the Russians $55.8 million per person to fly U.S. astronauts to the space station and back. That's the price for a single ticket starting in 2013; right now, it's costing NASA $26.3 million and will jump to $51 million next year.

Glenn doesn't believe the general public realizes what's happening on the space front.

"Going to Russia and being, in effect, under control of Russia for our space program just doesn't sit right with me, and I don't think it sits well with the American people, or won't, either," said Glenn, a former U.S. senator who rode the shuttle into orbit in 1998 at age 77. He turns 89 next month.

Glenn said little, if any, money will be saved by canceling the shuttle program, considering all the millions of dollars going to Russia for rocket rides. At least two shuttle flights a year could keep the station going and the work force employed until something new comes along, he said.

The former astronaut wonders what will happen if there's an accident and Soyuz rockets are grounded. He supposes the space station — a $100 billion investment — would have to be abandoned. He also worries scientific research at the station will take a hit if experiments have to be launched from Russia and have no way of getting back to Earth in bulk.

President George W. Bush made the decision to retire the shuttles and retarget the moon, six years ago in the wake of the Columbia tragedy. President Barack Obama is holding on to the shuttle shutdown, while killing the moon effort.

Only two shuttle missions remain on the official lineup; the second almost certainly will be delayed into early next year. NASA is hoping the White House will add an extra flight next summer before ending the 30-year shuttle program.

Democratic Glenn supports Obama's plan, announced earlier this year, to keep the space station going until 2020 and to give up on a moon base for now. But the original Mercury 7 astronaut said the nation needs a rocketship capable of lifting heavy payloads — whether it's part of NASA's Constellation program or something else — if astronauts are ever to reach asteroids and Mars.

Private companies, meanwhile, interested in carrying astronauts back and forth to the space station need to first prove their capability and reliability, Glenn noted. "I'm very leery of this rush to commercialization," he said.

Glenn said he waited to go public because he thought "people would see the wisdom" of keeping the shuttle going.

"If we're going to do anything, it has to be done pretty quick," he said.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.

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John Glenn: Keep U.S. space shuttles flying

By Marcia Dunn, Associated PressCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Mercury astronaut John Glenn, now 88, wants NASA's space shuttles to keep flying until their replacement is ready.Glenn joined the national debate Monday over America's future in space and became the latest ex-astronaut to speak out on the matter. He issued a nine-page statement in which he questioned the decision to retire the shuttle fleet and rely on Russia to take astronauts to the International Space Station.

"We have a vehicle here, why throw it away? It's working well," the first American to orbit Earth said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Glenn said he's against paying the Russians $55.8 million per person to fly U.S. astronauts to the space station and back. That's the price for a single ticket starting in 2013; right now, it's costing NASA $26.3 million and will jump to $51 million next year.

Glenn doesn't believe the general public realizes what's happening on the space front.

"Going to Russia and being, in effect, under control of Russia for our space program just doesn't sit right with me, and I don't think it sits well with the American people, or won't, either," said Glenn, a former U.S. senator who rode the shuttle into orbit in 1998 at age 77. He turns 89 next month.

Glenn said little, if any, money will be saved by canceling the shuttle program, considering all the millions of dollars going to Russia for rocket rides. At least two shuttle flights a year could keep the station going and the work force employed until something new comes along, he said.

The former astronaut wonders what will happen if there's an accident and Soyuz rockets are grounded. He supposes the space station — a $100 billion investment — would have to be abandoned. He also worries scientific research at the station will take a hit if experiments have to be launched from Russia and have no way of getting back to Earth in bulk.

President George W. Bush made the decision to retire the shuttles and retarget the moon, six years ago in the wake of the Columbia tragedy. President Barack Obama is holding on to the shuttle shutdown, while killing the moon effort.

Only two shuttle missions remain on the official lineup; the second almost certainly will be delayed into early next year. NASA is hoping the White House will add an extra flight next summer before ending the 30-year shuttle program.

Democratic Glenn supports Obama's plan, announced earlier this year, to keep the space station going until 2020 and to give up on a moon base for now. But the original Mercury 7 astronaut said the nation needs a rocketship capable of lifting heavy payloads — whether it's part of NASA's Constellation program or something else — if astronauts are ever to reach asteroids and Mars.

Private companies, meanwhile, interested in carrying astronauts back and forth to the space station need to first prove their capability and reliability, Glenn noted. "I'm very leery of this rush to commercialization," he said.

Glenn said he waited to go public because he thought "people would see the wisdom" of keeping the shuttle going.

"If we're going to do anything, it has to be done pretty quick," he said.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.

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