NASA ID: KSC-2009-2350
An NP-3D Orion from the “Bloodhounds” of VX-30 taxis to the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral AFS on March 28, 2009. The plane will fly below space shuttle Discovery as it approaches Kennedy Space Center for landing following the STS-119 mission. Onboard instruments will check the orbiter’s exterior temperatures and a long-range infrared camera will remotely monitor heating to the shuttle’s lower surface, part of the boundary layer transition flight experiment. For the experiment, a heat shield tile with a “speed bump” on it was installed under Discovery’s left wing to intentionally disturb the airflow in a controlled manner and make the airflow turbulent. The tile, a BRI-18, was originally developed as a potential heat shield upgrade on the orbiters and is being considered for use on the Constellation Program’s Orion crew exploration vehicles. The data will determine if a protuberance on a BRI-18 tile is safe to fly and will be used to verify and improve design efforts for future spacecraft. (NASA photo by Jim Grossman)
A larger, high-res version can be viewed or downloaded here:
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NASA ID: KSC-2009-2351
An NP-3D Orion from the “Bloodhounds” of VX-30 takes off from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral AFS on March 28, 2009. (NASA photo by Jim Grossman)
A larger, high-res version can be viewed or downloaded here:
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Lockheed NP-3D-130-LO Orion
BuNo 158227
300
c/n 285A-5551
Specially-built RP-3D using nonmagnetic materials aft of the main cabin door for Project Magnet; named “Roadrunner”; named “Paisano Tres” with VXN-8 in May 1993; to AMARC as 2P0194, 29 December 1993; returned to service with Naval Research Laboratory Flight Support Detachment at NAS Patuxent River as NP-3D; returned to AMARC as 2P0194, 29 December 2003; returned to service with VX-30 at Pt Mugu, 14 September 2005. (sources: Joe Baugher, Wikipedia, NASA)
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