So, back in 2019, NASA’s Super Guppy flew into Mansfield, Ohio with part of Orion so NASA could do testing at Plum Brook Station (now the Neil Armstrong Test Facility) in Sandusky. It was a wild day for us, because we had spent the day in Marietta, Ohio having lunch with my parents and grandparents, where we got to meet one of my grandpa’s sons from Australia for the first time. The flight kept getting pushed back, and we finally decided to just drive straight to Mansfield in the hopes of seeing it. Right as we pulled onto the road there it was, coming in to land. We quickly pulled into a lot to snap photos, then high tailed it up the road to park and rush out to where the action was. We met the only female crew member on the flight and she jumped the fence for a photo and promised us patches because they had run out, not expecting such a large turn out. I had her contact info, but obviously being part of NASA’s crew is a busy career.
Anyway, the Super Guppy was scheduled for Oshkosh 2023, so that was like #1 on my list! We watched it come in, the weather was perfect enough that they could open it up so we could see inside, and believe it or not, we met up with the same crew member from Mansfield and finally got our patches! That plane is so big and shiny. I love it.
NASA had their own building there with lots of goodies as well that we checked out during the week.