The Shuttle Training Aircraft or STA is silhouetted against the cloudy gray sky over NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Shuttle Training Aircraft, or STA, piloted by space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-126 commander, Chris Ferguson, is silhouetted against the cloudy gray sky over NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ferguson is flying the STA to practice landing a shuttle on the runway of the Shuttle Landing Facility. The STA is a Grumman American Aviation-built Gulf Stream II jet that was modified to simulate a shuttle’s cockpit, motion and visual cues, and handling qualities. In flight, the aircraft duplicates the shuttle’s atmospheric descent trajectory from approximately 35,000 feet altitude to landing on a runway. Ferguson previously served as pilot on the STS-115 mission, which flew in September 2006. The STS-126 mission to the International Space Station is targeted to launch Nov. 16. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston