Pilot Stu Broce is pre-breathing 100% oxygen prior to take off for an Air-LUSI flight at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.

The airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance (air-LUSI) instrument is moved across the hangar floor by robotic engineer Alexander McCafferty-Leroux ,from right to left, co-investigator Dr. John Woodward, NIST astronomer Dr. Susana Deustua, air-LUSI chief system engineer Dr. Kathleen “Kat” Scanlon, and members of the ER-2 ground crew at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in March 2025.

The ER-2 ground crew Wissam Habbal, left, and Dr. Kevin Turpie, airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance (air-LUSI) principal investigator, guide delicate fiber optic and electric cabling into place while uploading the air-LUSI instrument onto the ER-2 aircraft in March 2025 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

The ER-2 aircraft is parked in a hangar at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in March 2025. The plane is prepared for takeoff to support the airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance, or air-LUSI, mission.

The air-LUSI crew and ground crew from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA place air-LUSI’s component from the wingpod to the stand for hangar calibration.

Dr. John Woodward, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and co-investigator on the airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance (air-LUSI) mission, prepares the instrument for upload onto the ER-2 aircraft in March 2025 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

Ground crewman at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA install a rail to support the Autonomous, Robotic Telescope Mount Instrument Subsystem, which is part of air-LUSI and has a camera that scans the sky to find the Moon.

Air-LUSI takes off aboard an ER2 out of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA for an airborne campaign to measure the Moon from Nov. 13 – 17, 2019.

A ground crewman at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA inspects the forward panel on the mid-body section of NASA’s ER2’s wingpod. The crew is preparing to fly the air-LUSI instrument aboard the ER2 to measure the Moon.

Steven Grantham (NIST) and John Woodward (NIST) contemplate cable management for air-LUSI’s Irradiance Instrument Subsystem telescope at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, CA.  It is critical that the delicate fiber optic cables move smoothly with the telescope.