NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wants the best of the best at his agency to experience the thrill of a lifetime.
After taking the job at NASA, Isaacman announced that he would make two of his privately owned Northrop F-5 Tiger aircraft available to the agency.
The administrator took the Daily Mail into the skies above the John F. Kennedy Space Center to experience the thrilling opportunity offered to ‘exceptional’ NASA employees.
‘If you work at NASA, you’re pretty much a top performer, but the best of the best we take up for flight experiences like this is just as a thank you for giving it all they got,’ Isaacman told the Daily Mail.
The costs of the expensive flights are being covered personally by the administrator – at no expense to the taxpayer.
The F-5 plane was used in the film Top Gun to portray the fictional MiG-28s, as the aggressor aircraft painted with Russian colors.
But the administrator’s privately owned F-5 planes are now wrapped with a new patriotic paint scheme to recognize America’s 250th birthday. They now rest in NASA’s airport hangar as his team prepared them for takeoff.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman prepares for a flight in an F-5 fighter jet
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is seen in his personal F-5 aircraft,
The pair of fighter jets are decorated to mark the 250th birthday of the United States
‘Aviation is really important to what we do at NASA,’ he said, pointing to the use of flights to prepare astronauts for real-life experiences in the air, after their time in the simulators.
The lucky few passengers get fitted with NASA jumpsuits complete with carefully fitted helmets and oxygen masks prior to the flights and participate in a safety briefing.
The passengers are strapped into the co-pilot seat, where they have access to a flight control stick.
GoPro and 360 view cameras are installed in the cockpit to film the entire experience. The footage is later made available to the passengers to remember the thrilling experience.
Passengers of the special F-5 fighter jet flights get an unprecedented view of the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman details the flight plan for a flight with Daily Mail reporter Charlie Spiering and NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens
The Daily Mail flew in an F-5 fighter jet piloted by NASA administrator Jared Isaacman
Pilot and NASA senior advisor Sean Gustafson and NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman participates in a formation flight with his personal F-5 aircraft
Isaacman and his Daily Mail passenger were joined by his wingman and senior advisor Sean Gustafson and NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens as two F-5s soared into the skies above the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The pilots pulled a series of in-air maneuvers with his wingman that demonstrated the G-forces and thrills of a fighter plane.
Passengers of the flights experience multiple barrel rolls and even get a chance to try their hand at the control stick.
Isaacman and his wingman flew beside and underneath each other, exchanging positions in the sky close enough that passengers can see each other and wave.
The flight also offered passengers a once-in-a-lifetime view of the history surrounding the space center in Florida.
From the air, the Daily Mail saw multiple landing pads at the agency preparing for rocket launches.
Also visible was the Vehicle Assembly building where NASA engineers are preparing the final checkouts to launch four astronauts around the moon as part of the Artemis II launch in April.
Isaacman stressed the importance of the launch to once again prove that it’s possible for the United States and NASA to send astronauts back to the moon.
‘When you consider the history of the program, what matters most is that we’re going to do things differently. The status quo is unacceptable,’ he said. ‘We’re on a pathway to return to the moon.’
