NASA jets buzz the capitol
Earlier today, Thursday, April 5, two NASA T-38 jets passed over the Washington, DC metropolitan area, during planned training and photographic flights. The photo above by Paul E. Alers shows the jets flying over the U.S. Capitol building.
See this and more images from the flyby on .
Made by Northrop and powered by two afterburning General Electric J85 engines, a T-38 can fly supersonic up to Mach 1.6 and soar above 40,000 feet, about 10,000 feet higher than airliners typically cruise. The plane can wrench its pilots through more than seven Gs, or seven times the force of gravity.
鈥淭he T-38 is a great aircraft for what we need at NASA because it鈥檚 fast, it鈥檚 high-performance and it鈥檚 very simple,鈥� says Terry Virts, who flew as the pilot of STS-130 aboard shuttle Endeavour. 鈥滻t鈥檚 safe and it鈥檚 known. So compared to other airplanes, it鈥檚 definitely one of the best.鈥�
Today the T-38 training jets flew approximately 1,500 feet above Washington between 9:30 and 11 a.m. EDT. The April 5 flights were intended to capture photographic imagery.
Check out a great article about NASA鈥檚 T-38s here.
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