Eric Hintsa of NASA helps with loading equipment into NASA's highly modified Douglas DC-8 jetliner which operates as a flying science at the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California on July 7, 2016 where media were given a preview of the aircraft before the first deployment. The Atmospheric Tomography mission, NASA's research studies of the Earth's atmosphere, will take place this July and August as the DC-8 begins a 26-day journey from the North Pole, over the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand then across to the tip of South America, turning north over the Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic. / AFP PHOTO / Frederic J. BROWNFREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
