The iconic T-38 jets flown by astronauts just got a spiffy new look

宇航员驾驶的标志性 T-38 喷气式飞机换上了炫酷新装

For the first time in decades, NASA has rolled out one of its iconic astronaut training aircraft with a bold, new look. The space agency debuted a new livery on one of its T-38 jets in celebration of its program to return astronauts to the Moon. The Artemis design retains nods to what made the “white rocket” immediately recognizable, but adds a new colorway and painted graphics to make clear where NASA is headed.

几十年来，NASA 首次为其标志性的宇航员训练机换上了大胆的新装。为了庆祝重返月球计划，该航天局为其一架 T-38 喷气式飞机推出了全新的涂装。“阿尔忒弥斯”（Artemis）设计保留了让“白色火箭”极具辨识度的元素，同时增加了新的配色和彩绘图案，以彰显 NASA 的未来目标。

“This new ‘Artemis’ livery has a black and white paint scheme with blue and red stripes that separate those two paint schemes,” said Sean Brady, who proposed and designed the new livery while serving as the T-38 project pilot in NASA’s Aircraft Operations Division (AOD), part of the Flight Operations Directorate at Johnson Space Center in Houston. “The Artemis program logo in the back and a picture of the Moon is on the left and right side of the rear fuselage.”

“这款全新的‘阿尔忒弥斯’涂装采用了黑白配色，并用蓝色和红色的条纹将这两种颜色隔开，”肖恩·布雷迪（Sean Brady）说道。他在担任 NASA 约翰逊航天中心飞行操作局下属飞机操作部（AOD）的 T-38 项目飞行员期间，提议并设计了这款新涂装。“机身后部印有‘阿尔忒弥斯’计划的标志，机身尾部的左右两侧则绘有月球图案。”

The Northrop T-38 “Talon” two-seat supersonic trainer has been in use by NASA since 1962, when the first jets were loaned to the agency by the US Air Force. Flown today to familiarize new astronauts with working in a high-stress, dynamic environment and maintain pilots’ flight proficiencies, Johnson Space Center currently has a fleet of 14 active T-38 jets stationed out of nearby Ellington顿 Airport. All but one is adorned with the classic blue stripe livery that has been associated with most of NASA’s aircraft over the past five decades.

诺斯罗普 T-38“禽爪”（Talon）双座超音速教练机自 1962 年起便被 NASA 使用，当时首批喷气式飞机由美国空军借给该机构。如今，这些飞机主要用于让新宇航员熟悉高压、动态的工作环境，并保持飞行员的飞行熟练度。约翰逊航天中心目前拥有 14 架现役 T-38 喷气式飞机，驻扎在附近的埃灵顿机场（Ellington Airport）。除了一架之外，其余飞机均采用了过去五十年来 NASA 大多数飞机所使用的经典蓝色条纹涂装。

“Shiny new toy” “闪亮的新玩具”

The Artemis jet, referred to by NASA by its tail number N924NA (or 924 for short), stands out now due to its new look but was only selected because it was next in line to be repainted as part of AOD’s regular maintenance of its aircraft. “Everyone wants to take that aircraft up now because it’s the new shiny ‘toy,’” said Brady, repeating the joke he’s heard around the office.

这架“阿尔忒弥斯”喷气式飞机（NASA 以其尾号 N924NA 或简称 924 来称呼它）因其新外观而格外引人注目，但它之所以被选中，仅仅是因为它正好轮到 AOD 进行常规飞机维护和重新喷漆。“现在每个人都想驾驶那架飞机，因为它是一个闪亮的新‘玩具’，”布雷迪重复着他在办公室里听到的笑话。

“It looks fantastic,” said Artemis III mission specialist Andre Douglas, describing a photo of him and NASA instructor pilot Andre Price posing with the aircraft that he shared on social media on August 20. “The jet paint job was a nice treat!”

“它看起来棒极了，”阿尔忒弥斯 3 号任务专家安德烈·道格拉斯（Andre Douglas）在 8 月 20 日于社交媒体上分享了他与 NASA 教官飞行员安德烈·普莱斯（Andre Price）与该飞机的合影时写道，“这架飞机的涂装真是一份美妙的礼物！”

Douglas and fellow NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik and Frank Rubio and European Space Agency pilot Luca Parmitano are targeted to launch on the Artemis III mission no earlier than June 2027 to test rendezvous and docking techniques with prototype lunar landers in Earth orbit. If Artemis III goes according to plan, Artemis IV could see the first astronauts since the Apollo program land on the Moon as soon as 2028. From there, NASA is aiming at establishing a Moon base at the lunar south pole to search for and mine water ice and prepare astronauts for surface operations on Mars.

道格拉斯与 NASA 宇航员兰迪·布雷斯尼克（Randy Bresnik）、弗兰克·卢比奥（Frank Rubio）以及欧洲航天局飞行员卢卡·帕尔米塔诺（Luca Parmitano）计划于 2027 年 6 月之后执行阿尔忒弥斯 3 号任务，在地球轨道上测试原型月球着陆器的交会对接技术。如果阿尔忒弥斯 3 号按计划进行，阿尔忒弥斯 4 号最早可能在 2028 年实现自阿波罗计划以来的首次宇航员登月。此后，NASA 的目标是在月球南极建立月球基地，以寻找和开采水冰，并为宇航员在火星表面的作业做准备。

So nice, doing it twice 好事成双

Brady proposed the special livery to better convey how the T-38 is connected to the Artemis program and its missions. “A common question I get from the public is if the T-38 flies into space, and the answer is no. I think that’s an honest question. I think it’s a good question and a reasonable question because the parallels with spaceflight are not always obvious,” he said. “My goal in all this was to help that communication gap and tie T-38 flight training to NASA space missions and specifically to Artemis.”

布雷迪提议采用这种特殊涂装，是为了更好地传达 T-38 与阿尔忒弥斯计划及其任务之间的联系。“公众经常问我 T-38 是否会飞入太空，答案是否定的。我认为这是一个诚实的问题。我认为这是一个好问题，也是一个合理的问题，因为它们与航天飞行的相似之处并不总是显而易见的，”他说。“我做这一切的目标是弥合这种沟通差距，并将 T-38 飞行训练与 NASA 的太空任务，特别是与阿尔忒弥斯计划联系起来。”

Brady revealed that the plan currently is to roll out one other T-38 in a similar Artemis livery. What that other jet finally looks like is still being decided, but some of the ideas put forth by him and others have included changing the red and blue stripes to gold and silver accents and replacing the near-side view of the Moon featured on 924 with a depiction of the far side based on the photos taken by the Artemis II flyby in April.

布雷迪透露，目前的计划是再推出一架采用类似阿尔忒弥斯涂装的 T-38。另一架飞机的最终外观仍在商讨中，但他和其他人提出的一些想法包括：将红色和蓝色条纹改为金色和银色装饰，并将 924 号机身上绘制的月球正面图案，替换为基于阿尔忒弥斯 2 号在 4 月份飞掠时拍摄的照片所绘制的月球背面图案。

Other aircraft in NASA’s fleet have also recently sported new designs, but only by coincidence, said Brady. NASA’s new Boeing 777 Airborne Science Laboratory (N577NA) and Boeing 737 reduced-gravity test aircraft (N837NA) debuted with fresh paint schemes. AOD’s WB-57 and Gulfstream V, as well as the T-38 fleet (with the exception of N924NA), also gained a logo mark in commemoration of the United States’ 250th anniversary.

布雷迪表示，NASA 机队中的其他飞机最近也换上了新设计，但这纯属巧合。NASA 新的波音 777 机载科学实验室（N577NA）和波音 737 失重测试飞机（N837NA）都以全新的涂装亮相。AOD 的 WB-57 和湾流 V 型飞机，以及 T-38 机队（N924NA 除外），也增加了一个纪念美国建国 250 周年的标志。

The Artemis livery is the fifth design change for NASA’s T-38 astronaut trainers, which arrived from the Air Force with a mostly white fuselage (hence the nickname “white rocket”). In 1976, NASA adopted a standards graphic manual that introduced the logotype known as the “worm,” as well as the white and blue stripe livery for all of the agency’s aircraft. In 1992, as part of a larger effort to retire the worm and restore use of the Apollo-era NASA insignia (also known as the “meatball”), a stylized vector design replaced the logotype on the tail. Then, in 2023, as NASA brought the worm out of retirement, the logo regained its place on the tail, and the insignia (meatball) was moved to the body under the cockpits.

阿尔忒弥斯涂装是 NASA T-38 宇航员教练机的第五次设计变更。这些飞机最初从空军接收时，机身大部分为白色（因此得名“白色火箭”）。1976 年，NASA 采用了一本标准图形手册，引入了被称为“蠕虫”（worm）的标志，以及所有飞机通用的白蓝条纹涂装。1992 年，作为淘汰“蠕虫”标志并恢复使用阿波罗时代 NASA 徽章（也称为“肉丸”/meatball）的大规模工作的一部分，一种程式化的矢量设计取代了尾部的标志。随后，在 2023 年，随着 NASA 重新启用“蠕虫”标志，该标志回到了尾部，而徽章（“肉丸”）则被移至驾驶舱下方的机身上。