NASA ends Mildenhall mission

[unhappycamper]

The WB-57 is equipped with a particle-collection system that allows it to essentially vacuum the skies for the microscopic space dust.


NASA ends Mildenhall mission
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, November 17, 2008

RAF MILDENHALL, England — After a six-week stint here, a NASA crew was scheduled to head back to Johnson Space Center Sunday with their distinct aircraft, easily spotted on the flight line by its peculiar nose.

"People ask us about the plane all the time," said research pilot Mike Giles, part of a 10-man team of aviators, scientists and mechanics who led the space agency’s cosmic dust-collecting mission from Mildenhall in the WB-57.

The plane is equipped with a particle-collection system that allows it to essentially vacuum the skies for the microscopic space dust. A variation of the 1950s-era British Canberra bomber, the WB-57 is modified for weather reconnaissance missions and can reach altitudes in excess of 60,000 feet, according to specs on NASA’s Web site. The agency operates the only two in the world still flying today.

The space dust flights Giles and other NASA pilots fly from locations around the world are pre-determined paths.

"The scientists dictate where we fly. The missions are fairly benign," said Giles, a former Navy aviator.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58863



uhc comment: To illustrate how expensive war is getting to be, the B-57 Canberra first delivered in 1953 cost $1.26 million --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wb-57