In Photos: See NASA's 'Super Guppy' Swallow Supersonic Jets

Super Guppy Swallows T-38s

NASA

Two retired NASA T-38 trainers mounted on a transport pallet atop a mobile transporter are positioned for loading aboard NASA's Super Guppy prior to ferrying them to El Paso, Texas, for disassembly. Image released March 21, 2013.

Guiding the T-38

NASA

Workmen carefully guide the first of the T-38s into place as it is hoisted onto its pallet. Image released March 21, 2013.

Guiding the T-38s

NASA

The second retired T-38 joins its companion on the special transport pallet. Image released March 21, 2013.

Securing the T-38

NASA

As the Super Guppy awaits its cargo in the background, workmen secure the second T-38 to its transport pallet. Image released March 21, 2013.

The 'Mouth' of the Guppy

NASA

After opening the nose section of the Guppy, hoisting the T-38s onto a specially designed pallet atop a mobile transporter, loading the pallet and T-38s onto the Guppy and then reclosing the Guppy's nose section – about a 2.5-hour process – the Guppy departed for El Paso. Image released March 21, 2013.

T-38 Swallowed by Super Guppy

NASA

A NASA Super Guppy transport plane "swallowed" two NASA T-38 aircraft whole March 18, right out on NASA Dryden Flight Research Center's back ramp. Image released March 21, 2013.

Super Guppy Closing Up

NASA

The Super Guppy is the latest iteration of its kind – the last of three outsized aircraft to have transported a number of NASA's hefty payloads ranging from Saturn rockets to International Space Station modules. Image released March 21, 2013,

Super Guppy Lifts Off the Runway

NASA/Tony Landis

NASA's outsized SGT Super Guppy-Turbine transport aircraft lifts off the runway at Edwards Air Force Base after a prior visit.

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