The NASA Airborne Science Program provides a unique set of NASA supported aircraft that benefit the earth science community. These manned and unmanned aircraft carry the sensors that provide data to support and augment NASA spaceborne missions. One such aircraft is this Gulfstream G550 based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
The Johnson Space Center (JSC) procured a long-range Gulfstream GV aircraft as part of a shared usage agreement between the International Space Station (ISS) Program and the NASA Earth Sciences Division (ESD). The ISS Program will use this aircraft to fulfill the Soyuz Direct and Commercial Crew Program Crew Return missions, and ESD will use this aircraft to support airborne science missions in remote locations around the world. The collaboration between the ISS Program and ESD replicates the successful shared usage model currently implemented by JSC on the Gulfstream GIII aircraft and provides the agency a business jet to serve as a true long range platform to execute missions around the world.
