My Other Vehicle Was a Spacecraft
Now that the space shuttle has retired, astronauts are rediscovering the joys of flying airplanes.
- By Phil Scott
- Photographs by Robert Seale
- Air & Space magazine, July 2012
Courtesy Of Garrett Reisman
Garrett Reisman, his wife, and astronauts Steve Swanson and Paolo Nespoli decided to pool their resources and buy an American General Aircraft AG-5B (a variant of the Grumman Tiger). “The four of us owned it until Swanson’s wife decided she wanted some new kitchen cabinets,” says Reisman. Later, Nespoli sold his share of the aircraft.
“You can make the argument that [the AG-5B] is simpler than the Cessna 152” and less expensive to maintain, says Reisman, who left NASA last year and is now a senior engineer at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. One thing he doesn’t like: The previous owner had named the airplane Tigger, which is still on the canopy cover. “I can’t approve of that,” he says. “Sometimes it’s referred to as Bad Kitty.
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Comments (2)
I am proud to be mentioned in the article as "one other owner."
Posted by Steven Faber on May 24,2012 | 07:28 PM
To fly is to fly, be it in the world's largest, heaviest glider (not counting the Canadian DC-10 'Gimley Glider', eh?). Going up and in orbit the shuttle was just a reaction-thrust powered containment vessel. Coming back into the atmosphere it was reborn as an airplane. Pilots NEED to fly, it is like breath, and indeed we do get 'grumpy' when grounded. Those 'little airplanes' aren't a comedown they are a reconnection to the basics of simple flight, and all of them a lot of fun. Oh, and those Grmmans, damn good simple, fun and effecient airplanes. I owned one in the past, and wish it was here with me now that I've retired myself.
Posted by Smitty on July 6,2012 | 02:35 PM