The NASA DC-8 Retires: Reflections on its Contributions to Earth System Science
Explore This SectionEarth HomeEarth Observer HomeEditor’s CornerFeature ArticlesMeeting SummariesNewsScience in the NewsCalendarsIn MemoriamMoreArchives 13 min readThe NASA DC-8 Retires: Reflections on its Contributions to Earth System Science Introduction Since 1987, a highly modified McDonnell Douglas DC-8 aircraft has been a workhorse in NASA’s Airborne Science Program (ASP)—see Photo 1. The aircraft, located at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in California, flew countless missions as a science laboratory, producing science data that supports projects serving the world’s scientific community, particularly the NASA Earth science community. NASA recently decided to retire the venerable DC-8 aircraft, which made its last science flight in April 2024. The DC-8 is being replaced with a similarly refurbished Boeing 777 aircraft, which will be even more capable than the DC-8. Photo 1. NASA’s DC-8 flying laboratory flew Earth science missions for NASA’s. Airborne Science Program (ASP) from 1987–2024. The versatile aircraft was used to conduct a variety of research experiments...