The 26,400-nautical-mile, round-trip flight delivering an observatory to McMurdo Station took nearly a year to organize, according to the space agency.
NASA's Wallops Flight Facility C-130 aircraft delivered the agency’s Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) payload to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, on October 28, 2023. The GUSTO mission will launch on a scientific balloon in December. [Credit: NASA]
Key Takeaways:
A NASA C-130 Hercules successfully completed its inaugural flight to Antarctica, delivering the Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) to McMurdo Station.
GUSTO is scheduled to launch via a long-duration balloon in December, aiming to map sections of the Milky Way and the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud.
NASA's Wallops Flight Facility meticulously coordinated the complex 26,400 nm round-trip journey, which required extensive planning, additional crew, and multiple stops across various time zones.
A NASA C-130 Hercules successfully made its first flight to Antarctica on Saturday, delivering the Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) to McMurdo Station, according to the space agency.
GUSTO is set to launch aboard a long-duration balloon campaign in December to map a portion of the Milky Way and nearby Large Magellanic Cloud.
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