Have I said how cool this place is? Just outside the main checkpoint at the Northern entrance sits a B-52. This is a real B-52, flown by NASA and now retired. It was used to lift several prototype aircraft into the air for launch including the X-15 and the X-43a’scram-jet’. The unofficial history of this aircraft can be found here.
Once you get through the parking lot and enter the NASA Dryden facility, you park your car in the centrally located parking lot. Surrounding this lot is a series of aircraft (some real, some mock-ups). The coolest plane, by far, is the SR71 Blackbird, but they are all awesome, especially since you can walk right up to them. Here are a few pictures I took…
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Incidentally, there is a Shuttle launch scheduled for July 11th. Lets hope nothing is delayed and they can land fine in Florida – otherwise it might affect the Games.
(You can click on any of these picture thumbnails for a larger version)