Self Portrait
NASA research pilot Tom Ryan manages a self-portrait while streaking over New Mexico in the ER-2 Earth Resources aircraft on a high-altitude mission carrying the MABEL laser instrument in April 2011. MABEL (Multiple Altimeter Beam Experimental Lidar) will demonstrate the photon-counting altimetry approach to simulate measurements from NASA’s next ice-observing satellite, ICESat-2, scheduled for launch in 2016.