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In response to the mandate, the [[U.S. Air Force]] established a special unit at [[Kirtland Air Force Base]]. [[Sandia National Laboratories]] was tasked with modifying three aircraft, designated as [[Boeing NC-135|NC135s]], to be used as flying laboratories for analyzing potential future testing, as well as designing all the telemetry that would be used. The aircraft were used by Sandia as well as the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] and the [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] for the program. Test readiness practice missions were flown by the Air Force, supported by science teams from the three laboratories, sometimes in conjunction with other scientific research missions.<ref name="sandia1"/>
==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-with-in-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= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |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= |archivedate= |quote= }}</ref>
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