Sort By

Atomic Exposure

Boeing B-29 "Enola Gay" on Tinian in the Marianas Islands. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Atomic Exposure

U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Brian Ferguson

Atomic Exposure

Pictured is 2nd Lt. Russell Gackenbach who was aboard Necessary Evil, one of the B-29 Superfortresses used during the bombing on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945. (Courtesy photo)

Details Download

Atomic Exposure

Russell Gackenbach was the navigator aboard the B-29 Superfortress, Necessary Evil, and is the last surviving member of the three crews that flew the atomic bomb mission over Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945. Pictured are crew members locating targets on a map of Japan from the U.S. Army Air Force base on Tinian in the Marianas Islands. (Courtesy Photo)

Details Download

Atomic Exposure

Russell Gackenbach, second from left, was the navigator aboard the B-29 Superfortress, Necessary Evil, and is the last surviving member of the three crews that flew the atomic bomb mission over Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945. He is pictured with the Necessary Evil flight crew and ground crew on Titian in the Marianas Islands.(Courtesy Photo)

Details Download

Atomic Exposure

Russell Gackenbach, the navigator aboard the B-29 Superfortress, Necessary Evil, holds a photo he took during the atomic bombing mission over Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945. Gackenbach is the last surviving crew member from the three B-29s that flew the mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Brian Ferguson)

Details Download

Capturing Space

The 1.2 meter refractive telescope is one of two the Air Force oversees at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex. The telescopes are capable to tracking thousands of space objects throughout the night sky. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Capturing Space

A light anomaly above the Maui Space Surveillance Complex. The Maui Space Surveillance Site (MSSS), located on top of Mt. Haleakala, HI includes three facilities for identifying man-made objects in orbit. The three systems includes the Air Force Maui Optical System (AMOS), The Maui Optical Tracking and Identification Facility (MOTIF), and a contiguous Ground-based Electro-Optical Deepspace Surveillance System (GEODSS) facility. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Capturing Space

The Maui Space Surveillance System (MSSS) is a state-of-the-art electro-optical facility combining operational satellite tracking facilities with a research and development facility, the only one of its kind in the world. The MSSS houses the largest telescope in the Department of Defense, the 3.67-meter Advanced Electro Optical System (AEOS), as well as several other telescopes ranging from 0.4 to 1.6 meters. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Capturing Space

The Milky Way over the Maui Space Surveillance Complex. Maui's climate provides virtually year-round viewing conditions made possible due to the dry, clean air and minimal scattered light from surface sources which enable visibility exceeding 150 km. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Capturing Space

Captain Shahn Rashid inside the Advanced Electro Optical System (AEOS) is a 3.67meter telescope space surveillance system specifically designed to improve the means of collecting, and the quality of, space data at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex facility in Hawaii. Primarily intended for Department of Defense space surveillance missions, the telescope is also used by scientific and academic astronomy communities from across the United States. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Capturing Space

Millions of stars can be viewed with the naked eye at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex, which makes it a prime spot to view deep space. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Capturing Space

Captain Shahn Rashid maneuvers the lens of a 1.2 meter refractive telescope into place. Rashid is the commander of Detachment 3, a dedicated space surveillance unit located at the top of Haleakala, a dormant volcano on Maui. DET 3 is a part of the 21 Space Operations Group, which belongs to the 21st Space Wing at Peterson air Force Base, Colo. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Capturing Space

A view of sunset along Maui's western shoreline at 10, 000 feet from the Maui Space Surveillance System on Mount Haleakala. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Capturing Space

The 3.67-meter telescope, known as the Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS), owned by the Department of Defense, is the United States' largest optical telescope designed for tracking satellites. AEOS can be used simultaneously by many groups or institutions because its light can be channeled through a series of mirrors to seven independent rooms below the telescope. Employing sophisticated sensors that include an adaptive optics system, radiometer, spectrograph, and long-wave infrared imager, the telescope tracks man-made objects in deep space and performs space object identification data collection. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Capturing Space

Haleakala's summit is also home to a National Park where visitors brave a two hour, 10,000 drive to watch sunset and sunrise from above the clouds. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Details Download

Point of Recovery

Lt. Col. Chris Keithley (from left), 416th Flight Test Squadron commander, thanks F-16 pilot trainee Ocho and Maj. Luke O’Sullivan, 152nd Fighter Squadron, Arizona Air National Guard, for visiting the 416th FLTS Aug. 25, 2016. (U.S. Air Force photo/Kenji Thuloweit)

Details Download

Point of Recovery

Zach Demers, an aerospace engineer, demonstrates the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) in an F-16 flight simulator at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, April 18. Auto GCAS, which constantly compares the aircraft's speed and position to a digital terrain map and will automatically take control if it detects an imminent ground collision, is credited with saving the lives of four pilots. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Brian Ferguson)

Details Download

Point of Recovery

Retired Col. Pete Mapes, a pilot-physician, still uses a typewriter when he sees patients at the Joint Base Andrews, Md., Flight Medicine Clinic, April 7, 2016. Mapes was instrumental to the employment of the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) in fighter jets across the Air Force after he discovered an error in the program data while at the Air Force Research Lab at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio in 2003. The system, which constantly compares the aircraft's speed and position to a digital terrain map and will automatically take control if it detects an imminent ground collision, is credited with saving the lives of four pilots. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Brian Ferguson)

Details Download

Point of Recovery

Retired Col. Pete Mapes, a pilot-physician, was instrumental to the employment of the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) in F-16 fighter jets across the Air Force. The Auto GCAS program had been shelved until Mapes discovered an error in the program data while at the Air Force Research Lab at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio in 2003. The system, which constantly compares the aircraft's speed and position to a digital terrain map and will automatically take control if it detects an imminent ground collision, is credited with saving the lives of four pilots. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Brian Ferguson)

Details Download