more. hans, what s happening? reporter: well, this is a t-38. a trainer super sonic jet. it crashed outside an air force base in mississippi. we called up to the wing. we can t determine the status of the two pilots. i think the crucial thing to look at here is this is yet another military mishap, a serious aviation accident, and officials here are scrambling to figure out why. you talk to some officials and they say this is what happens when you have years of underspending, the budget cuts. you talk to others, they say it s a lack of training and readiness. we re trying to find out more and the fate of those two pilots. yet another crash affecting the united states military. hans, come back as soon as you get more information. thank you. we ll be right back with today s big picture.
it was so exciting. were you surprised by the reaction? i was a little bit. i received a lot of pictures that people took with their cell phones, from washington, d.c., a lot of my wife s former colleagues sent photos of discovery flying over, a lot of excitement. your wife being former congress woman gabby giffords. on the plane is bill rickey, the pilot, in nasa aircraft operator is his formal title. do you know him? yeah, at our aircraft operations division at johnson space center we have a bunch of research pilots. he s one of those, a pilot in t-38 training airplane we use, also pilot on the shuttle carrier aircraft. does it feel different flying that with the shuttle on top of it than it would flying a normal 747? well, absolutely.
betting is the best view in the world of a modified 747 that s giving a piggy back ride to the space shuttle discovery. it s being followed by a chase plane on the upper right corner. that s nasa t-38. it s a small plane. it s the hardest working shuttle in the program. it spent over 39 missions in space. looks like its earned its retirement. you can see that today. in order to get the shuttle from the kennedy space center to d.c., where it will be put on display, nasa mounted the shuttle to the modified 747. there s an incredible time lapse video of what it takes to put this on top of the other aircraft. they say they have a three inch leeway total in tomorrows of
bottom. what those three guys are betting is the best view in the world of a modified 747 that s giving a piggi back ride to the space shuttle discovery. it s being followed by a chase plane on the upper right corner. that s a nasa t-38. it s a small plane. it s the hardest working shuttle in the program. it spent over 39 missions in space. looks like its earned its retirement. you can see that today. in order to get the shuttle from the kennedy space center to d.c., where it will be put on display, nasa mounted the shuttle to the modified 747. there s an incredible time lapse video of what it takes to put this on top of the other
bottom. what those three guys are betting is the best view in the world of a modified 747 that s giving a piggi back ride to the space shuttle discovery. it s being followed by a chase plane on the upper right corner. that s a nasa t-38. it s a small plane. it s the hardest working shuttle in the program. it spent over 39 missions in space. looks like its earned its retirement. you can see that today. in order to get the shuttle from the kennedy space center to d.c., where it will be put on display, nasa mounted the shuttle to the modified 747. there s an incredible time lapse video of what it takes to put this on top of the other aircraft. they say they have a three inch leeway total in tomorrows of houf it has to fit on there.