Author Topic: NASA WB-57 NASA 926 Starbase "Detour"?  (Read 18654 times)

Offline DescartesWasBeautiful

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NASA WB-57 NASA 926 Starbase "Detour"?
« on: 03/29/2023 06:08 am »
Not sure if anyone else noted this, but one of NASA's three cold-war era Martin WB-57F "Canberra" high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, NASA 926, appears to have made a detour to observe Starbase on the long last leg of its flight back to its homebase at Ellington Field (KEFD) in Houston Monday after several weeks of flights in and around Alaska.  FlightAware flight log page: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/NASA926/history/20230327/1745Z/KSUU/KEFD

One or more of the WB-57F's was modified with a nose-mounted tracking camera to observe Space Shuttle launches after the Columbia accident and they have been on hand to track some other launches. Possibly scouting the Boca Chica range for OFT?

B-57 backgrounder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-57_Canberra
NASA WB-57F tracking camera mods page: https://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/launch/wb57_chasejets.html
Beautiful NASA video of the three NASA WB-57F's flying in formation around Houston a few years ago. (NASA 927 is also still active; per FlightAware, 928 hasn't flown in a couple of years - unsure of its current status.)

Online catdlr

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Re: NASA WB-57 NASA 926 Starbase "Detour"?
« Reply #1 on: 04/03/2024 08:27 pm »
More info on these assets:

It's Tony De La Rosa, ...I don't create this stuff, I just report it.

 

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