List of NASA aircraft

Throughout its history, NASA has used several different types of aircraft on a permanent, semi-permanent, or short-term basis. These aircraft are usually surplus (or in a few cases new-built) military aircraft. Included among these are:

Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy
Aero Spacelines Super Guppy
AeroVironment Pathfinder aircraft — NASA's Pathfinder, Pathfinder Plus, Centurion and Helios Prototype were an evolutionary series of solar- and fuel cell system-powered unmanned aircraft.

Beechcraft T-34 Mentor. Used mainly as a chase plane but also used for research.
Beechcraft Super King Air. Used to shuttle personnel between the Ames and Dyrden Research Centers.
Boeing 747. Two 747s, one registered N905NA (which is a 747-100 model that was acquired from American Airlines in 1974) and a second registered N911NA (a 747-100SR model purchased from Japan Airlines in 1988) are currently used by NASA as Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. A third (a 747SP model purchased from United Airlines in 1996) has been used since 2007 as SOFIA.
Boeing 757. Ex-Eastern Airlines 757 used as an advanced technology test platfrom.
Boeing CH-47B. Used for the Variable-Stability Research Rotor Craft project. It was equipped to fly by wire and had three on board computers. After research was completed it was returned to the US Army and converted to CH-47D.
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. Used to drop aerospace resarch vehicles.
Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. Two ex-USAF KC-135As (designated N930NA and N931NA) were used by NASA from 1973 to 2004 for the Reduced Gravity Research Program, where potential astronauts are exposed to simulated near-weightlessness. These aircraft are also known as Vomit Comets.
Convair 880 Used for Anti-Misting Kerosene Fuel.
Convair 990. Nicknamed Galileo, it was used as an airborne laboratory for research in aeronautics, astronautics, astronomy, and earth observations. The Galileo I aircraft was lost in a mid-air collision in 1973. The Galileo II continued service into the 1980s.
Convair F-106 Delta Dart. From 1986 a handful of F-106As, redesignated QF-106A, were retained by NASA for test purposes, the last being retired in 1998.
Cirrus SR22. Used for research and development in Small Aircraft Transportation System.

de Havilland Canada Bisontennial. Used for STOL research and the Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft programe
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-8. Operated by the University of North Dakota used for atmospheric research.
Douglas C-118 Liftmaster
Douglas F5D Skylancer. Used as a testbed for supersonic research and to train pilots for the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.
Fokker F-104 Starfighter. Three F-104Gs delivered to NASA in 1963 for use as high speed chase aircraft and redesignated F-104N. One of these aircraft, piloted by Joe Walker, collided with the XB-70 Valkyrie experimental bomber on June 8, 1966, killing Walker. NASA retired its last F-104 in 1995.
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Eagle. From 1988 until 1999, 2 prototypes of the F-16XL, designed as a competitor to the F-15E Strike Eagle in the USAF's Enhanced Tactical Fighter program, were taken in hand by NASA for aeronautical research.

Centurion takes off from Dryden in December, 1998

Grumman C-11A Shuttle Training Aircraft - 4 Grumman Gulfstream II's are used as advance trainers; they are stationed at NASA Forward Operating Location in El Paso, Texas and rotated through Ellington Field.
Grumman Gulfstream I
Gulfstream G-III - business jet for the Administrator of NASA, called NASA one, it has a seating capacity of 12 people
Learjet 23
Learjet 24
Learjet 25
Ling-Temco-Vought LTV XC-142. Experimental VTOL Tiltwing transport aircraft.
Lockheed C-121 Starliner
Lockheed NC-130B Hercules. Used for the Earth Survey Programme.
Lockheed C-141 Starlifter. In the early 1960s a single C-141A was procured by NASA for use as a heavy transport aircraft. The C-141A Kuiper Airborne Observatory, was operated from 1974 to 1995.
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Two specially designed C-5Cs were procured by NASA for use as a heavy transport aircraft and flown by USAF crews.
Lockheed JetStar
Lockheed P-3 Orion. NASA currently uses the P-3 as an earth-science suborbital research platform and is located at Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Lockheed S-3 Viking. Upgraded to a state of the art research platform.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Two SR-71Bs were used as trainers by NASA between 1991 and 1999.
Lockheed U-2 "Dragon Lady". Two U-2s have been modified to the ER-2 (Earth Resources -2) standard and are currently in use at Dryden Flight Research Center for use in various high altitude research projects.
Lockheed YO-3 Quiet Star. Used in rotorcraft research
Martin B-57 Canberra. Two Martin WB-57Fs are currently operating from Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center as high altitude research platforms for atmospheric research and Space Shuttlemonitoring.
McDonnell Douglas C-9 Skytrain II. One ex-USN C-9B was taken in hand in 2005 to replace the famous KC-135s used in NASA's Reduced Gravity Research Program.
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. It was used as a chase plaen for the X-15 program and for the lifting body flights. It was also used ot collect biomedical data and used to see if sonic booms could be used as a weapon.
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. One modified ex-USAF F-15, the F-15S/MTD, has been in use as a technology demonstrator and technology research aircraft since 1993, being used in the ACTIVE (1993-1999) and IFCS (2002-) programs.
NASA AD-1
NASA M2-F1. Light weight lifting body
NASA Paresev. The Paresev program included the Paresev 1B designed by Charles Richard and flown by eight pilots was a hanging-pilot glider; the ornamental lines of the wing of the Paresev 1B along with influence from the Fleep and other related actions and patents by Francis M. Rogallo gave foundation to the large hang gliders, ultralight trikes, and ultralight aircraftdevelopments from 1960 forward; in count, this development has been outnumbering all other manned aircraft in the world.
North America OV-10 Bronco
North American X-15. Rocket plane which flew from 1959 to 1968. Conceived by NACA, three were built and explored the regime of hypersonic flight. It is often regarded as a direct predecessor to the Space Shuttle.
North American XB-70 Valkyrie. Used in the research of sonic booms and also the study of structural dynamics.
Northrop HL-10
Northrop M2-F2
Northrop M2-F3
Northrop T-38 Talon. A number of T-38As have been used by NASA as jet trainers for its astronauts since the 1960s. NASA's T-38 fleet is housed primarily at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas.
Northrop Grumman Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration. A modified Northrop F-5E Tiger II used to demonstrate the ability to control and reduce sonic booms
Rockwell Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology. Used to develop new technology for future fighter aircraft.
Ryan XV-5 Vertifan. Experimental jet powered VTOL aircraft
Sikorsky S-72. An experimental hybrid helicopter/fixed-wing aircraft.
Vought F-8 Crusader. Several F-8Cs were used by NASA in the early 1970s to test such features asDigital Fly-By-Wire Control System and supercritical wings, which have become standard on modern high performance military aircraft.
Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III. Used for atmospheric testing.

See also