NASA's Super Guppy Lands at Sun 'n Fun Fly-In

0:00It's April 18th. This is Tampa Bay News today. Local news powered by AI. NASA's Super Guppy just touched down in Lakewyn, Florida for the Sun and Fun fly-in. This beast is a modified Boeing Strata Cruiser from the 1950s, turned into a massive flying cargo hauler with a 25-foot wide cargo. Bay. It's been hauling oversized NASA gear from Apollo days right up to the Artemis program. This is basically Frankenstein, this thing back in the space race era, because nothing else could fit the huge rocket parts. Now on its third generation, it's the only plane with a cargo space that big, beating out even military giants like the C5 or C17. Lead Engineer David Elliott says his team plans every mission, designs custom fixtures, and secures the loads for sensitive spacecraft components. They flown these monsters from California to Florida and beyond, keeping NASA's projects on track. Flying it is no joke, it's like piloting a U-Haul truck in the sky.

1:03The fuselage acts as a lifting body, so it turns slow with lots of lag, and pilots need two flight engineers handling power while they grip the yoke. Tight through landing, the whole crew stays current with hands-on training. If you're near Lakewyn Linder Airport, catch it taking off Monday morning between 11am and noon. This rare bird proved some old school tech, still rules the skies for NASA's big dreams.