Footage of Super Guppy landing in Alabama doesn’t even look possible
- NASA once released footage of the Super Guppy landing in Alabama
- It doesn’t look like any common aircraft, so the landing seemed unreal
- If you don’t believe it, watch the video below yourself
Published on Aug 07, 2024 at 4:52 PM (UTC+4)
by Siddharth Dudeja
Last updated on Aug 23, 2024 at 7:16 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
NASA has an iconic aircraft in its fleet called the Super Guppy, and it’s easily one of the oddest-looking airplanes in the sky.
Its unconventional design is what makes it special, and the space agency uses it for cargo transport missions.
NASA also once released a video of this one-of-a-kind aircraft landing in Alabama, and it looks unreal, to say the least.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
NASA Super Guppy landing seems unreal
This airplane doesn’t give off the appearance to make anyone believe it could even fly, let alone land later.
As a matter of fact, air traffic controllers were themselves doubtful that the plane would make it off the ground when it was introduced back in 1962.
The video above showed the gigantic plane carrying an Artemis I Heat Shield and landing at Huntsville International Airport in Alabama.
The answer to why the Super Guppy looks so humongous lies in its purpose.
This frankenplane — which is one of its official nicknames because it uses parts from different planes — was made for cargo transport.
You see, NASA often needs to transport parts, items, and sometimes even smaller planes from one place to another.
Normal airplanes, even the world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, wouldn’t cut it.
Well, the A380 didn’t even exist when the Super Guppy’s first iteration — the Pregnant Guppy — came into existence.
It serves a unique purpose
To fit everything that has an awkward shape, this plane’s design makes transportation easier.
The entire nose, from top to bottom, opens like a front door, providing access to the entire airplane for storage.
Hence, that means you get around 39,000 cubic-feet of storage space.
That’s certainly a lot of storage.
The Super Guppy also uses propellers — or turboprops — to fly, similar to those in the Airbus A400M.
Although propellers may seem like a thing of the past, they’re useful for cargo planes to fly efficiently at low altitudes.
Now that you know why it looks like that, watching it land ever so subtly indeed doesn’t seem possible.
It is, however, very much possible, and watching it can be a delight for planespotters.
