NASA ER-2 Aircraft Supports INSPYRE Earth Science Campaign

Ground crew team members, from left, Sophie Abou-Rizk, Michael Greenberg, Grant Finneman, Matthew Walker McLinden, Ted Hildum, Terry Hu, Jose Prieto, and Jesse Orellana prepare an ER‑2 aircraft for the INjected Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment (INSPYRE) on Monday, July 13, 2026. The aircraft is based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. This Earth science campaign studies wildfire‑generated thunderstorms and researchers are seeking to better understand how these storms form, how high the storms send smoke, where this smoke travels, and the effects after the smoke reaches upper layers of the atmosphere.