NASA ER-2 Aircraft Supports INSPYRE Earth Science Campaign

NASA engineer technician Francisco Rodriguez gives a NASA ER-2 aircraft a liquid oxygen refill (LOX) in preparation for the INjected Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment (INSPYRE) at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. 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.