Original photo captions:

A B-52 Stratofortress assigned to the 40th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, loaded with twelve Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) heads toward Iraq with its new mission directive. The bomber's mission is to provide close air support for coalition troops stabilizing the country of Iraq. Operation Iraqi Freedom is the multi-national coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraqi's weapons of mass destruction and end the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Close-up view of the instrument panel in the cockpit of NASA's B-52 research aircraft. Over the course of more than 40 years, the B-52 launched numerous experimental aircraft, ranging from the X-15 to the HiMAT, and was also used as a flying test bed for a variety of other research projects.