KSC-08pd2991

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Shuttle Training Aircraft, or STA, piloted by space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-126 commander, Chris Ferguson, is silhouetted against the cloudy gray sky and setting sun over NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ferguson is flying the STA to practice landing a shuttle on the runway of the Shuttle Landing Facility. The STA is a Grumman American Aviation-built Gulf Stream II jet that was modified to simulate a shuttle’s cockpit, motion and visual cues, and handling qualities. In flight, the aircraft duplicates the shuttle’s atmospheric descent trajectory from approximately 35,000 feet altitude to landing on a runway. Ferguson previously served as pilot on the STS-115 mission, which flew in September 2006. The STS-126 mission to the International Space Station is targeted to launch Nov. 16. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston