NASA DC-8 airborne laboratory flying over Mint Canyon and the Sierra Pelona Mountains in the foreground, and the snow-covered San Gabriel Mountains in the distance, in Los Angeles County, Southern California.

• The mostly white aircraft is silhouetted against the darker mountains in the background.
• NASA used a DC-8 aircraft as a flying science laboratory. The platform aircraft, was based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., collected data for many experiments in support of scientific projects serving the world scientific community. Included in this community were NASA, federal, state, academic and foreign investigators.
• Data gathered by the DC-8 at flight altitude and by remote sensing has been used for scientific studies in archeology, ecology, geography, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, volcanology, atmospheric chemistry, soil science and biology.