Rendezvous with a satellite
Forrest M. Mims III


In the eyes of the public, NASA is generally associated with satellites, missions to Mars, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Space Shuttle.

Yet NASA has many other assignments. Recently I visited Ellington Field in Houston to see firsthand one of NASA's lesser known operations, a flight of a high-altitude WB-57 research aircraft.

The WB-57 has huge wings and a pair of powerful jet engines that allow it to fly considerably higher than most other aircraft. The plane was designed by the British as their first jet bomber. Some were equipped with cameras and used for reconnaissance. They were also used in weather research.

Only two WB-57s are still flying, and both are based at Ellington Field. The most obvious feature of the WB-57 is its huge pair of wings. The wings have a total area of 186 square meters (2,000 square feet), about the same area as ten single-car garages. Each wing carries a huge jet engine mounted very near the aircraft's fuselage.

NASA's WB-57s have two seats. One in front is for the pilot. The instrument operator sits behind the pilot.

The WB-57 can fly higher than 18 km (60,000 feet). This means that the crew members must wear pressurized flight suits to protect themselves should the cockpit develop a leak. There is so little atmospheric pressure at this altitude that the gases in our blood and body will actually boil away.

The pressure suit, which closely resembles a space suit, prevents this from happening. When the lining of the suit is filled with air, it protects the wearer by applying pressure to the body.

Putting on a pressure suit takes time and requires help. After the suit and gloves are on, the helmet is placed over the pilot's head and locked in place. A technician then inflates the pressure suit to test it for leaks.

Because a pressure suit has no openings and is air tight, it can quickly become uncomfortably hot. Therefore, a portable air conditioning unit is attached to the suit until the pilot climbs inside the aircraft and the suit is connected to the plane's cooling system.


On the day I visited Ellington Field, Colonel Andrew Roberts was the WB-57 pilot. The special equipment operator was Brian K. Barnett. After their pressure suits and helmets were on and checked, they picked up their portable air conditioning units and slowly walked to a waiting van that carried them to the WB-57.

I was invited to join the flight crew for the short ride out to the waiting aircraft. When we arrived at the aircraft, the ground crew was busily checking the parachutes, emergency systems and instruments. While the flight crew stayed cool in the air-conditioned van, the ground crew let me climb up the ladder and look in the cockpit.

If you feel crowded during a commercial flight, you might not want to fly in a military jet. Not only is there very little space, there is no place to stand up and stretch. The restroom is a plastic bottle in a leg pocket. A plastic tube is connected between the bottle and the pressure suit.

After the checklist was completed, the flight crew emerged from the van and walked to their plane. Brian K. Barnett, the special equipment operator, rode in the back seat, which meant he had to get in first. This was no small task, for there is no door. Instead, Barnett had to back over the front seat while the ground crew pushed and shoved him into the back seat.

Colonel Andrew Roberts, the pilot, had an easier time entering the cockpit. After the crew was inside, they began checking out their instruments and preparing for the flight.

I left with the ground crew to watch the aircraft begin its taxi to the runway. This took time, for the plane must taxi very slowly to keep its wings from bouncing up and down.

Finally, we watched the WB-57 begin its takeoff roll. The plane quickly roared high into the sky over Houston.

The plane's mission lasted nearly six hours. The aircraft flew north to the Missouri River, making many scientific measurements along the way. During the flight, a new NASA satellite flew overhead when the WB-57 was flying at 18 km. This provided a carefully planned test of the satellite's instruments that measure air pollution from space.

My tiny role in this mission was to measure the ozone layer over Houston after the WB-57 took off. Since I've been doing that since 1989, that was pretty routine. But watching the WB-57 take off and land was an exciting adventure.

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