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==Ancillary missions==
===Airborne astronomy missions===
While flying simulations for the Test Readiness Program, the science teams assigned to the NC-135 aircraft realized that their flying laboratories could be effectively used to study [[solar eclipse]]s, [[cosmic ray]]s entering the atmosphere and the effects of magnetic fields in the [[ionosphere]]. Program scientists petitioned the AEC to allow for a program-within-a-program to use the aircraft for such scientific research. The petition was approved, and research continued through 1975.<ref name="inflight">{{cite web |url=http://library.lanl.gov/cgi-bin/getfile?00285812.pdf |title=In Flight: The Story of Los Alamos Eclipse Missions |accessdate=2007-03-22 |last=Mulkin |first=Barb |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format=PDF |work=[[Los Alamos Science]] |publisher=Los Alamos National Laboriatories |pages= |language= |quote= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Edu/docs/97-Whiting_AeroHistory.pdf|title=Milestones in Airbornce Astronomy: From the 1920s to the Present|accessdate=2007-03-22|last=Dolci|first=Wendy|authorlink=|coauthors=|date=|year=1997|month=|format=PDF|work=|publisher=American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics|pages=|language=|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905193322/http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Edu/docs/97-Whiting_AeroHistory.pdf|archivedate=2006-09-05|quote=|deadurl=yes|df=}}</ref>
The first eclipse mission took place from [[Pago Pago]] in 1965, and flying in conjunction with several other science aircraft, one of the NC-135s managed to fly within eclipse totality for 160 seconds, providing valuable science data. Eclipse missions were also flown in 1970, 1972, 1973, 1979 and 1980.<ref name="inflight"/>
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