DC-8 in Flight

This photograph was taken through the window of NASA’s DC-8 airborne laboratory as it flew over the frozen Mid-Canadian Northwest Territories on an ARCTAS flight. An intake for an instrument that measures chemical levels in the atmosphere is just visible at the end of the aircraft’s wing. Credit: NASA/Frank Cutler

NASA science is focused on better understanding Earth. Therefore through the Earth Observing System. Also advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate’s Heliophysics Research Program. Although exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic spacecraft missions such as New Horizons. Therefore researching astrophysics topics, such as the Big Bang, through the Great Observatories and associated programs.