"It's understanding the rules, how to live within the rules." "You're in a different world, a dynamic world, it doesn't matter whether it's a shuttle or a T-38," said Story Musgrave, a six-time shuttle flyer who posted thousands of hours in the T-38 and instructed others how to fly it, too. There are a lot of things that happen real-world in a T-38 that don't happen in the simulator." It's real flying and if you make a mistake, you can get hurt or break something or run out of gas. "It’s the one place where we're not in a simulator. "It's actually our most important training that we do as astronauts," said Terry Virts, who flew as the pilot of STS-130 aboard shuttle Endeavour. The T-38 remains a fixture for astronaut training more than 30 years later because the sleek, white jets make pilots and mission specialists think quickly in changing situations, mental experiences the astronauts say are critical to practicing for the rigors of spaceflight. Years before the space shuttle would glide home to a safe touchdown on runways in California and Florida, astronauts pitched the noses of T-38 jet trainers toward the same runways to find out what it would look like to land a spacecraft in such a way. The T-38 and space shuttle are not easily confused, but they work well together. Photo courtesy of Story MusgraveĪstronaut Terry Virts as he pilots the T-38 to Kennedy for TCDT. Photo courtesy of Terry VirtsĪ pair of T-38s fly in formation over Galveston Beach in Texas, showing some of the aerobatic abilities of the T-38. Photo courtesy of Story MusgraveĪ T-38 banks over Launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the crew arrives for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test for STS-130. Photo courtesy of Terry VirtsĪ pair of T-38s dive toward a runway at Edwards Air Force Base in Calif., on a steep approach like the one the shuttle uses on approach. A T-38 is silhouetted against the sun in flight.
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