''Balls 8'' is a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
Boeing NB-52B mothership which was retired in 2004 after almost 50 years of flying service with NASA.
The aircraft is famous for dropping the
X-15 aerospace research vehicle on 106 of the 199 X-15 program flights.
History
''Balls 8'' was originally an RB-52B
that was first flown on June 11, 1955, and entered service with NASA on June 8, 1959. It was modified at
North American Aviation
North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the ...
's Palmdale facility to enable it to carry the X-15. As on its NB-52A predecessor, a pylon was installed beneath the right wing between the fuselage and the inboard engines with a section removed from the wing flap to accommodate the X-15's tail.
The modified bomber flew 159 captive-carry and launch missions for the X-15 program from June 1959 until October 1968. It was first used to launch the X-15 on its fifth flight, January 23, 1960. It also flew missions for the
X-24,
HiMAT
The Rockwell RPRV-870 HiMAT (Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology) is an experimental remotely piloted aircraft that was produced for a NASA program to develop technologies for future fighter aircraft. Among the technologies explored were clos ...
,
Lifting Body
A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage ...
vehicles,
X-43, early launches of the OSC
Pegasus rocket
Pegasus is an air-launched launch vehicle developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) and now built and launched by Northrop Grumman. Capable of carrying small payloads of up to into low Earth orbit, Pegasus first flew in 1990 and remai ...
, and numerous other programs.
At its retirement on 17 December 2004, ''Balls 8'' was the oldest active B-52 in service, and the only active B-52 that was not an H model. It also had the lowest total airframe time of any operational B-52. It is on permanent public display near the north gate of
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is ...
in California.
It derives its nickname from its NASA
tail number 52-008: leading zeroes plus the number 8. Among USAF personnel, it is common practice to refer to aircraft whose tail number contains two or more zeros as "Balls" and the last digit (or two digits) of its tail number.
See also
* ''The High and Mighty One'', NB-52A serial number 52-003, is the other launch aircraft used for X-15 flights. It is on display at the
Pima Air & Space Museum
The Pima Air & Space Museum, located in Tucson, Arizona, is one of the world's largest non-government funded aerospace museums. The museum features a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres (320,000 m²) on a campus oc ...
next to
Davis-Monthan AFB in
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
, Arizona (32.1410557 N, 110.869652 W).
* B-52B, serial number 52-005 can be seen at the
Wings Over the Rockies Museum's B-52B "005",
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
.
*
List of NASA aircraft
* ''
Cosmic Girl'', a
Boeing 747-41R in use by
Virgin Orbit as a mothership for the Mark II
LauncherOne
LauncherOne is a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and flown by Virgin Orbit that began operational flights in 2021, after being in development from 2007 to 2020. It is an air-launched rocket, designed to carry smallsat payloads o ...
rocket.
* ''
Stargazer
Stargazer may refer to:
* an observational astronomer, particularly an amateur
Aerospace
* Stargazer (aircraft), a Lockheed L-1011 airliner used to launch the Pegasus rocket
* Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2, nicknamed Stargazer, the first ...
'', a modified
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar
The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter comm ...
used as a mothership for
Northrop Grumman Pegasus and Pegasus XL rockets.
References
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NASA aircraft
United States special-purpose aircraft
Individual aircraft
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
Aircraft related to spaceflight