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Gravitational waves can be lensed by massive galaxies so that they repeat, like an echo. Scientists are now readying to snare their first one and explore the cosmic secrets it holds

Gravitational waves can be lensed by massive galaxies so that they repeat, like an echo. Scientists are now readying to snare their first one and explore the cosmic secrets it holds

2 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s DC-8 aircraft.NASA

NASA’s DC-8 aircraft will fly at low altitude over Palmdale, California, and surrounding areas during its final flight from NASA’s Armstrong’s Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, to Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho.

After 37 years of successful airborne science missions, the DC-8 aircraft is retiring at Idaho State University, where it will be used to train future aircraft technicians by providing hands-on experience at the college’s Aircraft Maintenance Technology Program.  

Residents in the areas below will see and hear the aircraft as it flies to its new and final home.

Where: Palmdale, California; Edwards, California (and surrounding areas).

When: Wednesday, May 15, between 10:00-10:30 AM.

Additional details: All flyovers are conducted at a safe altitude without harm to public, wildlife, or infrastructure. Jet aircraft are loud and those with sensitivity to loud noises should be aware of the flyover window.

To follow along real-time with the DC-8’s flight path, visit:
https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/tracker/#!/status/list , or:

• Go to www.FlightAware.com or download the app.
• Type the aircraft tail number in the search bar: N817NA.
• Follow the aircraft in real time!

Learn more:

• About the DC-8 aircraft: https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/armstrong/dc-8-aircraft/.

• About the DC-8’s retirement: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-dc-8-completes-final-mission-set-to-retire/.

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For more information, contact:

Erica Heim
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California
650-499-9053
erica.heim@nasa.gov

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Armstrong Science Projects

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Science in the Air

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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The NASA DC-8 aircraft lifts off on a flight from U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, at sunset. The DC-8 is based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, which is located on Plant 42.NASA/Carla Thomas

After flying more than three decades and 158 science campaigns, just one flight remains. NASA’s DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory will make its final flight May 15 to Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, where it will be used to train future aircraft technicians by providing real-world experience in the college’s Aircraft Maintenance Technology Program.

Before that final flight, current and past DC-8 team members joined together on May 2 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Building 703 in Palmdale, California, to celebrate the people, the aircraft and the missions that resulted in incredible contributions to Earth science disciplines. “The DC-8 flew missions all over the world,” said Michael Thomson, chief of the Science Projects Branch at NASA Armstrong. “The work we did on that aircraft will make a difference to future generations in improved weather forecasting, monitoring glacial ice thickness, air quality, and improving our ability to predict the development of hurricanes from tropical storms.”

NASA Armstrong primarily kept the DC-8 testbed ready for flying science missions and the preparations to get the aircraft where it was needed for the scientists to do their work. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley managed the science.

Members of the DC-8 program team tour an empty aircraft and recall past missions. Usually the DC-8 has between 15 and 30 instrument racks installed for a given science mission. The aircraft was spacious by comparison on May 2, 2024, when NASA personnel, friends, and family gathered at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California to celebrate the DC-8 staff, aircraft, and science campaigns. Conversing here are DC-8 aircraft deputy manager Kirsten Boogaard, left, with NASA Armstrong pilot Carrie Worth, Mike Zimmerman, and NASA Armstrong public affairs specialist for airborne science, Erica Heim.NASA/Steve Freeman

“I really found it rewarding working on the DC-8 project and I will miss the team,” said Brian Hobbs, NASA Armstrong DC-8 manager. “It is a high-performing team. We have had some folks with the DC-8 project for a long time who have a lot of corporate knowledge. The comradery and the can-do attitude are impressive.”

Sometimes heroics were needed to save the day, Hobbs said. “During the recent Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality, or ASIA-AQ, mission, we had an engine failure. The logistics and procurement teams acted quickly to get the engine shipped and the crew was able to get it the engine replaced, tested and ready to go. That could have been the end of the campaign, but our team made it happen.”

The DC-8 team’s ability to make missions happen is something Hal Maring, NASA Earth Science Division scientist, experienced. “The DC-8 has flown scientists on a lot of missions to look at atmospheric composition, for which the most important applications are air quality. The DC-8 enabled NASA scientists to develop a better understanding of air quality; what makes it good, or what makes it bad.”

Retired NASA mission manager Chris Jennison and Randy Albertson, right, who retired in 2019 as NASA’s Airborne Science Program deputy director, stand in front of the DC-8 aircraft at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California. On May 2, 2024, NASA personnel, friends, and family celebrated the DC-8 staff, aircraft, and science campaigns.NASA/Steve Freeman

Some DC-8 missions are more intense, like flying through hurricanes, said Chris Jennison, a retired DC-8 mission manager who served in that role for 30 years. “I don’t miss stark terror,” he said. “The thing about flying hurricanes is that it’s not intuitively obvious where the dangerous places are.”

Despite flying the environmental challenges of missions, the features of the NASA DC-8 and the talent of its aircrew made flying a great experience, said Bill Brockett, a retired NASA DC-8 pilot who flew the aircraft for 28 years. “I always felt this airplane was tailor made for the kinds of work that NASA wanted to do with it,” he said. “There is no other big airplane that I am aware of that has the failsafe redundancy that this airplane has. I felt very safe if we were flying around storms and there was turbulence.”

Brockett recalled his 2009 flight to Antarctica as his most exciting. “The science instrumentation required that we fly from 500 feet to 1,000 feet altitude. It required total focus for the 6 or 7 hours at low altitude to successfully complete a mission. The scenery was spectacular, and every mission was immensely satisfying to me. We were low enough that we occasionally got glimpses of seals lounging on the ice! I also enjoyed having a personal audience with people who were at the top of their field and were doing cutting-edge research. I was fascinated by that and helping them to go where they wanted to go.”

Rocky Radcliff, Kevin Hall, and Herman “Chico” Rijfkogel stand in front of NASA’s DC-8 aircraft at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California. On May 2, 2024, NASA personnel, friends, and family celebrated the DC-8 staff, aircraft, and science campaigns.NASA/Steve Freeman

Randy Albertson, who retired as NASA’s Airborne Science deputy director in 2019, agreed that his favorite part of DC-8 missions was the scientists’ enthusiasm. “Some of these people had been working for years trying to get their experiment out there and prove a hypothesis they are working on. The energy they brought in was like recharging one’s batteries. They loved talking about the science. It was never routine because we were frequently doing different missions.”

Albertson was a key figure in the DC-8 program from the late 1980s until his retirement. He recognizes the Operation IceBridge missions was his biggest contribution because when a satellite failed to monitor the state of the ice caps, the mission enabled scientists to complete the largest airborne survey of Earth’s polar ice.

Although its last flight will not be a scientific one, the body of knowledge and research that the DC-8 helped facilitate will continue to inspire scientists for generations to come.

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The DC-8 aircraft returned to NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California, on April 1, 2024 after completing its final science mission supporting the Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality (ASIA-AQ). The aircraft and crew were welcomed back with a celebratory water salute by the U.S. Air Force Plant 42 Fire Department, and congratulated by NASA peers.NASA/Quincy Eggert Share

Details Last Updated May 14, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactJay Levinejay.levine-1@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms

• Armstrong Flight Research Center
• Aeronautics
• Climate Change
• Earth
• Earth Science
• Earth's Atmosphere
• General
• NASA Aircraft
• Science in the Air
• Science Mission Directorate

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Armstrong Flight Research Center

Armstrong Science Projects

Aircraft Flown at Armstrong

Science in the Air

NASA has selected Dina Contella, left, as the International Space Station Program deputy manager, based at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Contella succeeds Dana Weigel, who became the space station program manager in April. NASA has also selected Bill Spetch, right, as the space station operations integration manager, a role most recently held by Contella. Credits: NASA

NASA selected Dina Contella as the deputy program manager and Bill Spetch as the operations integration manager for the agency’s International Space Station Program, effective Sunday, June 2.

“Dina’s depth of experience with the complex and dynamic aspects of the space station mission will be instrumental for leading through future challenges,” said Dana Weigel, program manager for NASA’s International Space Station Program. “Bill’s extensive experience with space station hardware and transportation systems uniquely position him for the leadership role as the operations integration manager.” 

Contella succeeds Weigel, who became space station program manager in April, and the two will share overall management of the International Space Station, including development, integration, and operations, as well as its cargo and commercial missions. Spetch will oversee day-to-day operations, maintenance, and research aboard the orbiting laboratory, taking over the position held by Contella.

Contella has more than 30 years of experience in various roles supporting the International Space Station, Artemis, and the space shuttle. For the past two-and-a-half years, she was the operations and integration manager, responsible for leading real-time aspects of the program, including chairing the International Space Station mission management team. Contella led about 40 dynamic station operations each year, managing day-to-day space station technical risk decisions and programmatic mission integration among the orbiting laboratory’s five international partner agencies.

Prior to her work in the space station program, Contella held technical and management positions of increasing responsibility, including Gateway program mission integration and utilization manager, Advanced Exploration Systems lead for utilization and logistics across multiple Moon-to-Mars programs, and lead for an industry study to enhance NASA’s understanding of commercialization of low Earth orbit. Before these positions, she served as a NASA flight director, the spacewalk operations group lead, a spacewalk liaison stationed in Russia, a spacewalk flight control officer for space shuttle and space station missions, and a space shuttle navigation and computer instructor.

Contella, from Austin, Texas, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station.

Spetch has 27 years of experience supporting the space station throughout his career. He most recently was the office manager responsible for the health and integrity of the space station, including sustaining, sparing, and integrating commercial elements onto station and providing real-time engineering support. Before that, he was station transportation integration office manager, acting space station mission integration and operations manager, space station transportation integration office deputy manager, and station Vehicle Integrated Performance Environments and Resources (VIPER) team manager.

The Maple Grove, Minnesota native graduated from the University of Minnesota Minneapolis with a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics.

Learn more information about the International Space Station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

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