NASA Aircraft

NASA maintains a fleet of aircraft that enable the agency to conduct its aeronautical research, study our planet, train its astronauts, and otherwise operate its many air and space programs. This page will be a constantly growing and evolving home for information about NASA aircraft past and present.

Latest NASA Aircraft News

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NASA Science Flights Venture to Improve Severe Winter Weather Warnings

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NASA Chase Aircraft Ensures X-59’s Safety in Flight

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New NASA Sensor Goes Hunting for Critical Minerals

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NASA’s X-59 Completes First Flight, Prepares for More Flight Testing

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National Aviation Day: Celebrating NASA’s Heritage While Charting Our Future

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New Video: NASA’s RAVEN SWIFT Tests Air Taxi Flight Control Tech

aircraft Flown at armstrong FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER

See List of Armstrong's Aircraft Fleet

Gulfstream III

Aerodynamics Research Test Bed

ER-2

High-Altitude Science Aircraft

F-15B

Aeronautics Research Test Bed

Global Hawk

Unmanned Aerial System

NASA Encyclopedia

X-Planes Past and Present at Armstrong

Experimental aircraft, or X-planes, are built for a wide range of research purposes – technology or concept demonstrators, unmanned test missiles, and even as prototypes. Here is an overview of X-planes researched and tested at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California

Learn More About X-Planes at Armstrong

Pilot A. Scott Crossfield is visible in the cockpit of the X-15 shortly before the release from the B-52 carrier aircraft.

North American Aviation

Airborne Science Program

NASA's Airborne Science Program, located within the Earth Science Division, is responsible for providing aircraft systems that further science and advance the use of satellite data. A number of NASA aircraft stationed at field centers around the country are available to support the program.

See the List of NASA Aircraft Involved

A large white aircraft sits inside a hangar. A forklift sits to the right most edge of the image.

Originally used to search for submarines during the Cold War, this Lockheed Orion P3 has conducted airborne science for NASA since 1991! It has been to all seven continents many times.

NASA

coming to an airport near you in 2050?

NASA Funds New Studies Looking at Future of Sustainable Aircraft

Picture yourself at an airport a few decades from now. What does your airliner look like? It’s more efficient, with lower emissions than today’s aircraft – what kinds of designs or technology make that possible? NASA is working to answer those questions by commissioning five new design studies looking to push the boundaries of possibility for sustainable aircraft.

Read the story and see the ideas

An artist’s concept that depicts an airliner with two propeller engines on each wing resting on airport tarmac. The aircraft is viewed through a window and, in the foreground, a small child with dark hair and a yellow backpack looks at it, with his hand resting on the glass. Sustainable infrastructure is visible in the far background, including wind turbines and large tanks with LH2 written on them, the formula for liquid hydrogen, a potential alternate fuel source.

Artist’s concept of a 50-60 passenger hydrogen fuel cell electric plane created by Boeing through its future flight concept efforts. Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing Company, received an award through NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability 2050 initiative to examine new alternative aviation fuels propulsion systems, aerodynamic technologies, and aircraft configurations, along with other technology areas.

Boeing

aircraft operations

Johnson Space Center

The Houston-based space center plays host to a number of NASA aircraft that are used for astronaut training and flight proficiency, transport of oversized cargo, and hosting airborne science investigations of planet Earth.

Read About the JSC Aircraft

NASA Johnson Center Aircraft. The large image is of the Super Guppy and the smaller images (left to right): 1. WB57 (N926NA, N927NA, & N928NA), G-V (N95NA), T-38 Fleet and the G-III (N992NA).

NASA

NASA Aircraft

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Support Aircraft and Maintenance Operations Overview

Support Aircraft and Maintenance Operations (SAMO)’s mission support aircraft are flexible, adaptable, and agile platforms that are real-time in-situ research facilities to collect, process, exploit, and disseminate the best research data possible, as quickly as possible to demonstrate technologies and concepts, in the toughest environments.

Learn More About SAMO

A NASA F/A-18 is towed to the apron at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California during sunrise over Rogers Dry Lake. The F/A-18 was used to test a transmitter for an air navigation system, called the Airborne Location Integrating Geospatial Navigation System, or ALIGNS. This system, designed to allow pilots to position their aircraft at precise distances to each other, will be critical for acoustic validation efforts of NASA’s next supersonic X-plane, the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology.

NASA/Lauren Hughes