Scientists are studying tiny atmospheric particles with NASA Armstrong’s ER-2 aircraft.
These daring pilots fly above what’s called the Armstrong Line.
That’s 63,000 feet.
Above that line
there's very little pressure so,
your blood will start to boil.
So the suit will fill up with air,
and it'll put the pressure on the pilot’s body.
Flying twice as high as commercial planes for up to 8 hours,
these pilots need a way to drink and eat.
We have different types of tube food,
and they all connect
the straw to their tube food.
And then that fits right through
a port in their helmet.
So we had all kinds of like meat
flavors like pizza and stroganoff
and other kind of weird stuff
that nobody ever liked.
So we ended up getting rid of those,
and now we have caffeinated apple pie.
Chocolate pudding, which isn't half bad.
This is the Zapplesauce.
Those aren’t the only important tubes!
This tube there, and that tube is plugged into another
tube inside the airplane,
which goes into a collection can.
Once the pilot is suited up,
it's off to the pad for takeoff.
During the flight, science instruments on the ER-2
will collect measurements to help validate NASA’s PACE satellite,
improving ocean and atmospheric data across the globe.