Boeing's NB-52B Stratofortress, affectionately known as Balls-8, was an ex-USAF Boeing B-52 bearing serial number 52-0008, most famous for serving as the mothership that launched the legendary X-15 on 106 of the research aircraft's 199 flights.
She operated from Edwards Air Force Base in service with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the independent agency of the United States government responsible for the nation's civil space programme and aeronautical research.
Balls-8 served as a flying launch pad some nine miles (14 km) above the Earth, carrying the rocket aircraft she launched together with all the propellants, gases and power systems normally associated with a ground-based launch facility. To fulfil this demanding role, her right wing was reinforced and fitted with a pylon capable of carrying more than 50,000 pounds (23,000 kg), almost one-fifth of her own weight.
This remarkable capability made her an indispensable part of multiple aerospace programmes until her final mission on 16 November 2004, after almost 50 years of distinguished service.
Re-engined and extensively upgraded throughout her career, Balls-8 also played a vital role in the development of the Space Shuttle programme. She successfully launched several wingless lifting-body aircraft that demonstrated the feasibility of the Shuttle's steep gliding landing approach.
Her contribution extended beyond aerodynamic testing. She was also used extensively in trials of the parachutes designed to recover the Shuttle's solid rocket boosters after ocean splashdown, as well as the drag chute system used to slow the Shuttle after landing.
Balls-8 had far more on her résumé than space-related work alone. During the 1970s and 1980s she launched several remotely piloted research vehicles and drones, including the 3/8-scale F-15 RPAV (Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle), the Ryan Firebee drone and HiMAT, the Highly Manoeuvrable Aircraft Technology demonstrator.
In the mid-1990s she even served as an air-to-air gunnery target and was used in testing pollution-reducing fuel additives with a pair of jet engines mounted beneath the bomb bay. For a time, this unusual arrangement made her the world's only ten-engined jet aircraft. She was also the last B-52 with a bomb bay configured to carry the MAU-12 bomb rack originally designed for large thermonuclear weapons.
Man and machine share one certainty: both our lives are finite. Yet the machines we create often outlive us, and so it was with Balls-8. Today she stands on permanent public display near the north gate of Edwards Air Force Base in California. One hopes that in future she may find her final resting place in one of America's great museums, lovingly preserved as a fitting tribute to a majestic old lady that contributed so much to the advancement of aviation and spaceflight.
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