Galaxy brain airplane 🧠 When we need to fly a massive rocket part or hulking spacecraft segment across the country, we bring in our Super Guppy aircraft. One of only five ever built, and the only one still operational, the Super Guppy has been hauling enormous payloads across the United States for more than 60 years. The specialized design of the Super Guppy includes a unique hinged nose that allows crews access to its 13-foot-wide (4 meters) and 111-foot-long (34 meters) cargo compartment that's capable of carrying up to 52,500 pounds (23,800 kilograms). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Super Guppy helped deliver the Saturn V rockets during the Apollo program that landed the first humans on the Moon. Now, we're using the colossal aircraft to carry components for our @NASAArtemis missions, which will establish a long-term presence on the Moon and prepare us for human missions to Mars. The first photo here was taken in 2016 at our @NASAAmes research center, but Super Guppy was in the air this week carrying Artemis test equipment to @NASAMarshall, where the second photo was taken. Despite its massive contributions, the Super Guppy didn't deliver every piece of Artemis I on its own; a fleet of planes, trains and barges worked in conjunction to bring all the parts to the launch pad, preparing our Moon rocket to lift off no earlier than Monday, Aug. 29. Credit 1: NASA/Don Richey Credit 2: NASA/Charles Beason #NASA #NASAArtemis #SuperGuppy #Aircraft #Planes #Cargo #Transport #Hauling #Apollo #SaturnV #SLS #Aviation #AviationPhotography #AviationGeek #AviationLovers