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
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Debra Hale
Tom Henricks - Boeing PT-17 Stearman
You’d think a space shuttle would have little in common with a Boeing PT-17 Stearman. One rocketed into orbit with a crew of up to seven and could stay in space for more than two weeks. The other is a two-seat, open-cockpit biplane that was used as a World War II trainer and whose flight time is limited by the size of the pilot’s bladder.
To Tom Henricks, who became the first astronaut pilot to log 1,000 hours in the space shuttle, the Stearman is still a marvelous machine. He bought a one-third share of one for the pleasure of flying. And he discovered something it has in common with the shuttle: “They’re both machines that can kill you,” he says.
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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