Two NASA T-38 training jets are seen as they fly near the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, April 5, 2012, in Washington. NASA, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration, conducted training and photographic flights over the DC metropolitan area.
A NASA T-38 training jet is seen as it flies over Washington, D.C. on April 5, 2012.
Two NASA T-38 training jets are seen as they fly over Washington, DC, Thursday, April 5, 2012. NASA, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration, conducted training and photographic flights over the DC metropolitan area.
Two NASA T-38 training jets are seen as they fly over Reagan National Airport, Thursday, April 5, 2012 in Arlington, VA. NASA, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration, conducted training and photographic flights over the DC metropolitan area.
A pair of T-38s fly in formation over Galveston Beach in Texas, showing some of the aerobatic abilities of the T-38. Image released April 20, 2011.
A pair of T-38s dive toward a runway at Edwards Air Force Base in Calif., on a steep approach like the one the shuttle uses on approach. Image released April 20, 2011.
A T-38 banks over Launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the crew arrives for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test for STS-130. Image released April 20, 2011.
Astronaut Terry Virts as he pilots the T-38 to Kennedy for TCDT. Image released April 20, 2011.
Two NASA T-38 jets, like the one seen here in the foreground, will scout the skies ahead of space shuttle Discovery (background) arriving in Washington, D.C.
A T-38 is silhouetted against the sun in flight. Image releasd April 20, 2011.
Space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 crew arrived on the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard four T-38 jets, on Sunday, Feb. 20. NASA plans to launch Discovery on Thursday, Feb. 24.
Astronaut Mark Kelly, STS-121 pilot, prepares for a flight in a NASA T-38 trainer jet at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center.
High above NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the STS-135 crew members get ready to land their T-38 jets at the Shuttle Landing Facility. The STS-135 astronauts arrived at Kennedy at about 2:30 p.m. EDT on July 4 for final preparations for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission to the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Joan Higginbotham poses with a T-38 jet during a photo session.
The space shuttle Columbia riding "piggyback" on NASA 905, a 747 carrier aircraft, is only seconds away from landing on Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle landing facility, ending a 2,400-mile ferry flight from California on March 24, 1979. The T-38 chase plane at left is flown by Donald "Deke" Slayton, manager for the orbital fight test (OFT) program.
This scene was photographed when the NASA 747 carrier aircraft and five T-38 aircraft flew over the Shuttle Orbiter 101 "Enterprise" while it was parked on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. The Orbiter 101 had just completed a five-minute, 28-second unpowered mission during the second free flight of the Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) conducted September 13, 1977 at the Dryden Flight Research Center.
A comparison of AVIATR’s size with that of a NASA T-38N (left).
STS-121 commander Steven Lindsey (at center with microphone) talks to reporters after he and his crew landed their T-38 jet aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 27, 2006.
The STS-125 crew members prepare to speak to the media at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after arriving in T-38 jets for Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, or TCDT, activities. From left are, mission specialist Megan McArthur, pilot Gregory C. Johnson, mission specialist Mike Massimino, commander Scott Altman, and mission specialists Andrew Feustel, John Grunsfeld and Michael Good.