NASA's Super Guppy Eats Spacecraft Parts for Breakfast

NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft is one of the most extravagant cargo planes in the world. The awkwardly shaped aircraft has been in service since 1965, and was specifically designed to carry oversized payloads, like rocket stages and spacecrafts. This Tuesday she was fed with the Orion service module stacking assembly interface ring and stack holding stand.

Orion is NASA’s next deep space exploration vehicle, and it will launch atop a new Space Launch System rocket on Exploration Mission-1 in 2018. The ring and stack were secured on a special transportation platform and loaded into the aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Guppy took off from Kennedy to NASA Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Here is a bonus pic of the event for your viewing pleasure:

[NASA/Kim Shiflett]