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Two chase aircraft, a Learjet 23 and a Cessna T-37, in formation with a NASA Boeing 747 905 as part of a wing vortex experiment. A chase plane is an aircraft that "chases" a "subject" aircraft, spacecraft or rocket, for the purposes of making real-time observations and taking air-to-air photographs and video of the subject vehicle during flight ...
NASA and the United States Air Force had a joint agreement to use the second XB–70A prototype for high–speed research flights in support of the proposed SST program. These plans went awry on June 8, 1966, when the second XB–70 crashed following a midair collision with NASA's F–104N chase plane.
The fleet is typically used to train its astronauts and as a chase plane. NASA's fleet is housed primarily at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. NASA's internal projections showed the number of operational jet trainers falling to 16 by 2015. The agency spends $25–30 million annually to fly and maintain the T-38s. [24]
Balls 8 is a NASA Boeing NB-52B mothership which was retired in 2004 after almost 50 years of flying service with NASA. [1] [2] The aircraft is famous for dropping the X-15 aerospace research vehicle on 106 of the 199 X-15 program flights. [3]
NASA Learjet 23 chase aircraft. N802L – Model 23 on static display at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. [5] [6] N505PF – Model 23 on static display at the Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita, Kansas. [7] [6] N20EP – on display outside White Industries, Bates City, Missouri. [8]
The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft.
Twelve pilots flew the X-15 over the course of its career. Scott Crossfield and William Dana flew the X-15 on its first and last free flights, respectively. Joseph Walker set the program's top two altitude records on its 90th and 91st free flights (347,800 and 354,200 feet, respectively), becoming the only pilot to fly past the Kármán line, the 100 kilometer, FAI-recognized boundary of outer ...
Walker was killed on June 8, 1966, when his F-104N Starfighter chase aircraft collided with a North American XB-70 Valkyrie. [13] At an altitude of about 25,000 ft (7.6 km) [ 14 ] Walker's Starfighter was one of five aircraft in a tight group formation for a General Electric publicity photo when his F-104 drifted into contact with the XB-70's ...