Advanced Military and Space Aircraft

Images of large military and space aircraft, including modifications and preparations for significant missions, showcased against clear skies.

DF-ST-87-13278. Base: John F Kennedy Airport, New York State: New York (NY) Country: United States Of America (USA)

An E-4B advanced airborne national command post aircraft parked on the flight line. Country: Unknown

The DC-8 Airborne Laboratory in a left banking turn above the airport at Palmdale, California. The right wing is silhouetted against the blue sky, while the left wing contrasts with the desert terrain. The former airliner is a "dash-72" model and has a range of 5,400 miles. The craft can stay airborne for 12 hours and has an operational speed range between 300 and 500 knots. The research flights are made at between 500 and 41,000 feet. The aircraft can carry up to 30,000 lbs of research/science payload equipment installed in 15 mission-definable spaces.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket is mated to the company's L-1011 carrier aircraft near Vandenberg's runway. On board Pegasus are eight NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft. When preparations are competed at Vandenberg, the L-1011/Pegasus XL combination will be flown to NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On Dec. 12, 2016, the carrier aircraft is scheduled to take off from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and CYGNSS will launch on the Pegasus XL rocket with the L-1011 flying off shore. CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes. The data that CYGNSS provides will enable scientists to probe key air-sea interaction processes that take place near the core of storms, which are rapidly changing and play a critical role in the beginning and intensification of hurricanes.

low angle Jets Fixed Wing Commercial Boeing Aviat Airplanes 747 white runway

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) returns to NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 on Aug. 11 after a productive month of science flights out of Christchurch International Airport in New Zealand.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - At NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASAs Shuttle Carrier Aircraft modified 747 jet, or SCA, has arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, after a 5-hour flight from Edwards Air Force Base in California. To the right is the Mate/Demate device that will be used to lift and attach Discovery atop the SCA.During the Space Shuttle Programs transition and retirement processing, Discovery was prepared for display at Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Discovery is scheduled to be transported atop the SCA, designated NASA 905, to Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17 and then moved to the Smithsonian for permanent public display on April 19. The SCA is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - This Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, a modified Boeing 747, is prepared for its ferry flight to Florida, carrying space shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis landed at Edwards on May 24, which concluded mission STS-125, after two landing opportunities at Kennedy were waved off due to weather concerns. Atlantis is being returned to Florida on a ferry flight on the SCA. Atlantis' next assignment is the STS-129 mission, targeted to launch in November 2009.

DF-ST-87-13278. Base: John F Kennedy Airport, New York State: New York (NY) Country: United States Of America (USA)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, parks at the ramp area at NASA Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. The SCA touched down at 5:05 p.m. EDT to prepare for shuttle Endeavours ferry flight to the Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 17. The Mate/Demate Device, or MDD, is located at the ramp area and will be used to hoist and lower Endeavour onto the back of the SCA.

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft taxies on the flightline at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., Dec. 13, 2022. The SOFIA aircraft is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a reflecting telescope. It allowed astronomers to study the solar system and beyond in ways that are not possible with ground-based telescopes.

USA, California, Los Angeles, LAX Airport, NASA905 Space Shuttle Carrier Aircraft Boeing 747-123 parked outside Flightpath Museum

DF-ST-89-02055. Base: Washington State: District Of Columbia (DC) Country: United States Of America (USA)

X-34 mated to modified L-1011 during takeoff on first captive carry flight

C-141 KAO (NASA-714) on ramp

970427-F-1277M-006. Base: Grand Forks Air Force Base State: North Dakota (ND) Country: United States Of America (USA)

NASA's freshly painted Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) 747SP is shown at L-3 Communications Integrated Systems' facility in Waco, Texas, where major modifications and installation was performed. The observatory, which features a German-built 100-inch (2.5 meter) diameter infrared telescope weighing 20 tons, is approaching the flight test phase as part of a joint program by NASA and DLR Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center). SOFIA's science and mission operations are being planned jointly by Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and the Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI). Once operational, SOFIA will be the world's primary infrared observatory during a mission lasting up to 20 years, as well as an outstanding laboratory for developing and testing instrumentation and detector technology.

C-32A/BPrimary function: High-priority personnel transport. Speed: 530 mph. Dimensions: Wingspan 124 ft. 8 in.; length 155 ft. 3 in.; height 44 ft. 6 in. Range: 6,329 miles. Crew: 16.

Air-to-air, side view of a 63rd Airlift Wing's C-141B Starlifter, "Spirit of the Inland Empire," as it banks left, with the San Bernardino mountains in the background, for landing at Norton. Exact Date Shot Unknown. Base: Norton Air Force Base State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Flying Observatory SOFIA, Boeing 747 SP, SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) is a joint project of the US space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center DLR, Stuttgart Airport, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, Europe

Tanzania Dar Es Salaam, Air Tanzania plane in Dar es Salaam airport

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL launch vehicle and Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft, which are mated, are being attached to the underbelly of the Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft for launch Nov. 9. DART was designed and built for NASA by Orbital Sciences as an advanced flight demonstrator to locate and maneuver near an orbiting satellite. The DART spacecraft weighs about 800 pounds and is nearly 6 feet long and 3 feet in diameter. The Pegasus XL vehicle will launch DART into a circular polar orbit of approximately 475 miles. Once in orbit, DART will make contact with a target satellite, the Multiple Paths, Beyond-Line-of-Sight Communications (MUBLCOM), also built by Orbital Sciences and launched in 1999. DART will then perform several close-proximity operations, such as moving toward and away from the satellite using navigation data provided by on-board sensors. The entire missio

An air-to-air right side view of an E-4B Advanced Airborne Command Post (AABNCP) aircraft. Country: Unknown

A KC-10A Extender aircraft stands on the flight line prior to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield. Subject Operation/Series: DESERT SHIELD Base: Pope Air Force Base State: North Carolina (NC) Country: United States Of America (USA)

A left side view of a Fleet Logistic Support Squadron 58 (VR-58) C-9B Skytrain II aircraft taxiing on the flight line. Base: Naval Air Facility, Andrews Afb State: Maryland (MD) Country: United States Of America (USA)

passenger airplane in the clouds. travel by air transport. flying to the top of the airliner. nobody passenger airplane in the clouds. travel by air transport. flying to the top of the airliner. nobody ,model released, Symbolfoto Copyright: xZoonar.com/KonstantinxKamenetskiyx 9564876 ,model released, Symbolfoto ,property released

An E-4B National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC) aircraft flies high over the Midwest on a training mission out of Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory takes off from Juan Santamaria International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica, on NASA's AirSAR 2004 campaign. AirSAR 2004 Mesoamerica is a three-week expedition by an international team of scientists that uses an all-weather imaging tool, called the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR) which is located onboard NASA's DC-8 airborne laboratory.Scientists from many parts of the world including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are combining ground research done in several areas in Central America with NASA's AirSAR technology to improve and expand on the quality of research they are able to conduct.The radar, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, can penetrate clouds and also collect data at night. Its high-resolution sensors operate at multiple wavelengths and modes, allowing AirSAR to see beneath treetops, through thin sand, and dry snow pack.AirSAR's 2004 campaign is a collaboration of many U.S. and Central American institutions and scie

Christened "Clipper Lindbergh" when it flew for Pan American Airways in the 1970s, the SOFIA 747SP shows evidence of modification to its aft fuselage contours to accommodate a 16-foot-tall opening for a 45,000-pound infrared telescope. This inflight photo was taken on SOFIA's first flight since its modification to become an airborne observatory.

Space Shuttle Pilot Trainer Jet

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Technicians and engineers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California mate the Pegasus XL rocket with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, solar observatory to the Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft.Scheduled for launch from Vandenberg on June 26, 2013, IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the suns corona using spectrometry and imaging. The IRIS mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere. The interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and upper atmosphere, is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.

A Canadian Air Force CC-150 Polaris MRTT.

A6-EYK Etihad Airways Airbus A330-243 in flight against a cloudy sky

Northrop Grumman's L-1011 Stargazer is ready for takeoff Oct. 19, 2018, from the hot pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The company's Pegasus XL rocket, containing NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), is attached beneath the aircraft. The Pegasus XL rocket will launch from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology and communications systems.

An E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post of the U.S. Air Force.

Christened "Clipper Lindbergh" when it flew for Pan American Airways in the 1970s, the SOFIA 747SP shows evidence of modification to its aft fuselage contours to accommodate a 16-foot-tall opening for a 45,000-pound infrared telescope. This inflight photo was taken on SOFIA's first flight since its modification to become an airborne observatory.

NASA's modified Boeing 747SP SOFIA airborne observatory taxis along the runway at Waco, Texas after completing its first checkout flight on April 26, 2007.

An air-to-air right side view of a Boeing 707 aircraft retouched to illustrate the configuration of the U.S. Navy's proposed E-6A TACAMO (take charge and move out) aircraft. Country: Unknown

NASA's Boeing 747SP SOFIA airborne observatory soars over a bed of puffy clouds during its second checkout flight over the Texas countryside on May 10, 2007.

Northrop Grumman's L-1011 Stargazer is undergoing final preparations prior to its takeoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Oct. 1, 2019. The company's Pegasus XL rocket, containing NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), is attached beneath the aircraft. The explorer is targeted to launch on Oct. 9, 2019, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A Russian Antonov AH-124-100 cargo airplane has landed on the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver the final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory for the International Space Station. The components are the Kibo Exposed Facility, or EF, and the Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, or ELM-ES. The EF provides a multipurpose platform where science experiments can be deployed and operated in the exposed environment. The payloads attached to the EF can be exchanged or retrieved by Kibo's robotic arm, the JEM Remote Manipulator System. The ELM-ES will be attached to the end of the EF to provide payload storage space and can carry up to three payloads at launch. In addition, the ELM-ES provides a logistics function where it can be detached from the EF and returned to the ground aboard the space shuttle. The two JEM components will be carried aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127

DF-ST-86-09963. Base: Paris Country: France (FRA)

The Antonov cargo aircraft carrying the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite touches down on the runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Sept. 24, 2020. The mission is an international partnership and the first launch of a constellation of two satellites that will observe changes in Earths sea levels for at least the next decade. Launching atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich is targeted to lift off from Vandenbergs Space Launch Complex 4 on Nov. 10, 2020. The Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management.

NASA 710, a Convair 990 transport aircraft formerly used for medium altitude atmospheric research, cruises over the Mojave Desert near NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The flight was a final speed calibration run prior to the start of extensive modifications that turned the aircraft into a landing systems research aircraft to test and evaluate brakes and landing gear systems on space shuttles and also conventional aircraft.Research flights with the aircraft began in April of 1993. Testing of shuttle components lasted into fiscal year 1995.

A left side view of a Tu-154M aircraft from the Slovak Republic that was used to fly the republic's president to the U.S. to participate in the opening ceremonies for the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Base: Naval Air Facility, Andrews Afb State: Maryland (MD) Country: United States Of America (USA)

U.S. Airways airplane on its way to the terminal after landing at DFW International Airport.

An E-4B National Emergency Airborne Command Post aircraft in-flight over the national capital area. Base: Washington State: District Of Columbia (DC) Country: United States Of America (USA)

People boarding Boeing 747, China

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Russian AH-124-100 aircraft arrives at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's skid strip in Florida carrying the Centaur stage of the Atlas V rocket that will launch NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and NASA's Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, known as LCROSS. The two spacecraft will be integrated with the Atlas V and tested for final flight worthiness. Launch is scheduled for the spring. LCROSS and LRO are the first missions in NASA's plan to return humans to the moon and begin establishing a lunar outpost by 2020.

AN air-to-air left side view of a KC-10 Extender aircraft. Country: Unknown

11/24/2013. Airbus A310 of the Air Force to transport personalities ARCHDC.

An air-to-air right side view of a Convair UC-880 aircraft, the only such aircraft in U.S. Navy service. The Convair is assigned to Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, and is employed in Tomahawk cruise missile testing and refueling aircraft procedures. Exact Date Shot Unknown. Country: Unknown

low angle Jets Fixed Wing Commercial Boeing Aviat Airplanes 747 runway white

A right side view of a C-9C Nightingale aircraft from the 99th Military Airlift Squadron in flight. Country: Unknown

The cavernous expanse of the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., now houses NASA's DC-8 science laboratory and SOFIA infrared observatory.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Orbital Sciences' L-1011 aircraft carries the Pegasus XL rocket/Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) under its belly. The aircraft is scheduled for takeoff in a window beginning at 7:50 a.m. and release of the Pegasus about 8 a.m. The GALEX will carry into space an orbiting telescope that will observe a million galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic history to help astronomers determine when the stars and elements we see today had their origins. The spacecraft will sweep the skies for 28 months using state-of-the-art ultraviolet detectors to single out galaxies dominated by young, hot, short-lived stars that give off a great deal of energy at that wavelength. These galaxies are actively creating stars, and therefore provide a window into the history and causes of star formation in galaxies.

Aircraft landed with side wing perspective in airport

Northrop Grumman's L-1011 Stargazer takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Oct. 1, 2019. The company's Pegasus XL rocket, containing NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), is attached beneath the aircraft. The explorer is targeted to launch on Oct. 9, 2019, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above.

11/24/2013. Airbus A310 of the Air Force to transport personalities ARCHDC.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Endeavour, secured atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, backs away from the mate-demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The SCA, a modified 747 jetliner, will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era.

Air Force One, the VC-137C Stratoliner aircraft used to transport the president, sits on the ramp near the Tempelhof Central Airport terminal building during President Reagan's visit to Berlin. Base: West Berlin Country: Deutschland / Germany (DEU)

S77-28931 (12 Oct. 1977) --- The Orbiter 101 Enterprise separates from the NASA 747 carrier aircraft to begin its first tailcone-off unpowered flight over desert and mountains of Southern California. A T-38 chase plane follows in right background. This was the fourth in a series of five piloted free flights.

A right side view of the space shuttle orbiter Enterprise and its specially modified 747 transport aircraft on public display at Koln-Bonn Airport. The Enterprise is at the airport for five days prior to the Paris Air Show. Country: Federal Republic Of Germany (FRG)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - The flight crew boards Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The aircraft is transporting Orbitals Pegasus rocket and NASAs Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, to the U.S. Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pegasus, mated to its NuSTAR payload, will be launched from the carrier aircraft 117 nautical miles south of Kwajalein at latitude 6.75 degrees north of the equator. The high-energy X-ray telescope will conduct a census of black holes, map radioactive material in young supernovae remnants, and study the origins of cosmic rays and the extreme physics around collapsed stars. Launch is scheduled for June 13.

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy touches down at Moffett Field, Calif., for its first visit to NASA Ames Research Center, Jan. 14, 2008.

CC-150 Polaris tanker aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

SOFIA visit to Ames overheads of event

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V booster for NASAs Landsat 9 mission arrives aboard an Antonov 124 cargo aircraft at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on June 28, 2021. The Landsat 9 mission will launch atop a ULA Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg in September 2021. The launch is being managed by NASAs Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center. The Landsat 9 satellite will continue the nearly 50-year legacy of previous Landsat missions. It will monitor key natural and economic resources from orbit. Landsat 9 is managed by the agencys Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The satellite will carry two instruments: the Operational Land Imager 2, which collects images of Earths landscapes in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared light, and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2, which measures the temperature of land surfaces. Like its predecessors, Landsat 9 is a joint mission between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - A Russian Antonov AH-124-100 cargo airplane lands at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip. The plane is delivering a second stage Centaur (Block I) for the Lockheed Martin Atlas V, designated AV-007, that is the launch vehicle for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The MRO is designed for a series of global mapping, regional survey and targeted observations from a near-polar, low-altitude Mars orbit. These observations will be unprecedented in terms of the spatial resolution and coverage achieved by the orbiters instruments as they observe the atmosphere and surface of Mars while probing its shallow subsurface as part of a follow the water strategy. The orbiter is undergoing environmental tests in facilities at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colo., and is on schedule for a launch window that begins Aug. 10. Launch will be from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Air to air side view of Air Mobility Command's 375th Military Airlift Wing's C-9 Nightingale coming in for a landing at Scott AFB, Illinois. Exact Date Shot Unknown. Country: Unknown

AN air-to-air left side view of a KC-10 Extender aircraft. State: California (CA) Country: United States Of America (USA)

Airbus, E-Fan 2.0, ILA, Berlin-Schoenefeld, Germany, Europe

A US Air Force C-32 aircraft prepares to depart Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. Base: Peterson Air Force Base State: Colorado (CO) Country: United States Of America (USA)

ETIHAD 777 Landing at Toronto Pearson

NASA's SOFIA flying observatory makes a low pass over NASA Ames Research Center prior to landing at Moffett Field for a brief visit on Jan. 14, 2008.

ETIHAD 777 Landing at Toronto Pearson

STS-132 LAUNCH L-2 SUITED STA'S WITH COMMANDER & PILOT

A front view of a KC-10A Extender taking off during Operation Desert Storm. Subject Operation/Series: DESERT STORM Country: Bahrain(BHR)

C-141 (NASA-714) Kuipter Airborne Observatory in flight.

Boeing 747-200 "Sir Charles E.Kingsford Smith" from the KLM at Schiphol Airport.

Royal Saudi Air Force A330 MRTT tanker landing at Konya Air Base, Turkey.

A Soviet Tu-204 transport aircraft is displayed at the 1991 Paris Air Show. Base: Paris Country: France(FRA)

SOFIA at nighttime in New Zealand.

Orlando 737 Windshear Sensor Flight Tests

Newly arrived DC-8 (NASA-717) in flight over Sierra mountains

An air-to-air, three quarter front view of a McDonnell Douglas-built C-9A Nightingale aircraft, with a Beech Aircraft built C-12F and a Lear Jet built C-21A flying off the left wing of the C-9. All aircraft are from the 375th Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command. Base: Scott Air Force Base State: Illinois (IL) Country: United States Of America (USA)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- An international charter aircraft arrives here March 19 with delivery of 95 tons of blankets, plastic sheeting, hygiene supplies, soap and jerry cans to assist with earthquake and tsunami relief effort.

IL-86VKP command post airframe of Russian Air Force landing, Russia.

JUNO - CENTAUR STAGE ARRIVAL

Ground Crew Unloads a Skynet II Satellite from a British Bristol Belfast at Cape Kennedy AFS, Florida. Ground Crew Unloads a Skynet II Satellite from a British Bristol Belfast at Cape Kennedy AFS, Florida.

Air to air views of the SOFIA aircraft fly-by on a visit to Ames Research Center (Photos taken by Carla Thomas, NASA Dryden Flight Reseach Center photographer)

960826-F-2829R-011. Subject Operation/Series: SOUTHERN WATCH Base: Prince Sultan Air Base Country: Saudi Arabia (SAU)

British airways jumbo jet on tarmac, london, uk, no pr Copyright: xAngeloxD Silva/DinodiaxPhotox

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