Super Guppy!

I can't believe it's been a month since I spent basically my entire weekend at the Museum of Flight watching the Guppy fly in and then getting to see the front section of the Full Fuselage Trainer (FFT - a fancy term for a wingless space shuttle that is used for training the astronauts).

The Guppy is one of my favorite planes; it just doesn't look like it is supposed to be able to fly!

Apparently, this plane is a composite in the sense that the wings come from the B-class bombers, the fusualage is from another plane, and the cockpit is from yet a third plane, and the cargo area was built up on top. In a lecture on day 2, one of the astronauts, Greg Johnson, who flies the Guppy talked a bit about its history - apparently the first version, the 'Pregnat Guppy', completely disconnected midway down the cargo area to load items. Now, the Super Guppy opens on a hinge on the left side of the plane:

The guppy was flown in by Johnson and then a female astronaut showed up - I never did catch her name, but I guess she was important? Johnson is actually from West Seattle and a UW grad, so it was fun for him to fly the Guppy here. One favorite moment happened when some person just showed up in an EVA suit mock-up. I've worn one before and, while kids love them, the one I wore was not comfortable at all!!

While the Guppy crew maneuved the plane into posistion in the museum's parking lot, all the VIPs and speakers mingled before the small welcoming ceremony, including the governor and Bonnie Dunbar, another local astronaut.

And in true Seattle form, it started to rain, though fortunately it started after the plane had landed! A rain delay would not have fun to stand through!

On day two of my weekend at the MoF, not only did I get to hear Astronauts Johnson and Foreman (I think Foreman spoke at a MUST conference once) talk about their experiences on the ISS and the history of the Guppy, but I got to the front end of the FFT up close!

It was actually to large for the lens I had with me that day, but I realized that I saw the FFT fully assembled in Houston when I flew on the microgravity plane a couple years ago:

Fun fact: on the other side of the FFT in the picture above, astronauts trained to detect thermal tile damage, right underneath the open cargo bay door!

I have oodles more pictures, but since I think everyone who reads this blog is also my friend of fb, you can see the rest of the pictures there! (Click here!)