B-52 Stratofortress / NASANASA Boeing B 52 airplane model. NASA has a new "mothership" aircraft, a former U. S. Air Force (USAF) B 52H bomber that has been modified into a flight research vehicle launch aircraft. Now, the bomber turned mothership joins NASA's other B 52, the famous "NASA 008," in air launching some of NASA's most advanced aerospace vehicles. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, working with the USAF, modified the B 52H by first removing the aircraft's