I really had to double check when I heard it in the live feed.

Amazing

IIRC, after Columbia mishap, and before the resumption of flights, NASA wanted to have a really good recordings of what's falling and hitting what, during the launch. Presumably, without pre-conditions for cloud layers etc. that a ground telescope would impose. WB-57 with side-looking camera was the answer. Apparently the thing has an air-conditioned equipment bay in the nose so that the payloads can be swapped as needed. An auxiliary equipment, from the company that I work for, went along - so that's how I learned about it. Made us all feel very special :)

Looking good !

Great vid.
Presume that's Houston they're flying over?

Could they not re-engine , re-wire , and re-use some Avro Vulcan aircraft . Those are awesome versatile machines as well .

I noticed a NASA WB-57 on ADSB out of Mildenhall a few years ago, it was heading towards Strumble and back across the Atlantic.

Definitely Houston - I used to live there.

Fitliker,

Only if they wanted to accept a dramatic reduction in aircraft ceiling.

They need a replacement they could order a couple of Scaled Composite Proteus. Ceiling with 50% fuel was already in the FL 650+ region. Then for the NASA Crystal-FACE program they fitted it with 13.5ft wing extensions.......


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....eac1d540f.jpeg