Preserving History: Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

All photographs, in their edited & RAW format, are available for free upon request.These photos are licensed under Creative Commons attribution 4.0.

This has been a long time in planning, but it finally happened: I visited the Starfighters hangar at the unbelievable facility that is the Kennedy Space Center. I had the opportunity to learn about the history of these incredibly powerful aircrafts, how they came into the USA and their troublesome history.

The purpose of this trip was to gain valuable reference images and high quality textures for the VSN Group, who's goal is to recreate this and many other aircrafts for all to enjoy in the Digital Combat Simulator platform FOR FREE.

I had the pleasure of talking with most of the team here at Starfighters. They told me about their experiences in the aircraft, their air show history and a research platform* that was developed for the aircraft.

I had the chance to pass by the infamous VAB, the SLS rocket before it finally set off to orbit the moon as well as many other historical sites at the KSC. The security office where I got my ahem FOREST GREEN WITH BLACK TEXT access badge for the NASA facility even had a Redstone rocket on display! Of course, I had to take the time to also visit the visitors center of the KSC after this visit of a lifetime.

I also had the opportunity to see a Falcon-9 rocket take off from the Saturn V hangar! I mean seriously, what a trip!