Year in Review: Team Edwards reflects on 2009 Published Jan. 6, 2010 By Airman 1st Class William O'Brien 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- As the Air Force Flight Test Center enters into the second decade of this millennium, here's a look back at the events and achievements from 2009. Team Edwards kicked off 2009 with a Unit Compliance and Logistics Standardization and Evaluation Team inspections Jan. 9 through the 16, which concluded with the Air Force Materiel Command Inspector General team rating the Air Force Flight Test Center UCI as "Excellent" and LSET as "Satisfactory." The 416th Flight Test Squadron "Skulls" invaded the vast bombing and gunnery ranges of Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., as they became the first ever Air Force Materiel Command unit deployed to Red Flag when they participated Jan. 26 to Feb. 6. Administered by the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center and Nellis through the 414th Combat Training Squadron involving the air forces of the United States and the United Kingdom, Red Flag is the Air Force's premier combat training exercise. The Global Reach Combined Test Force concluded a colossal mission of performing a formation test with six C-17 Globemaster IIIs March 14 and 17. As the first quarter came to a close, tragedy struck with the loss of experienced test pilot retired Lt. Col. Dave Cooley. Colonel Cooley, Lockheed-Martin F-22 Raptor test pilot, died in an F-22A crash March 25 during a test mission. Edwards celebrated the RQ-4 Global Hawk reaching two milestones: completing its 30,000th flight hour and 2,000th mission in April. Throughout the decade, the Global Hawk completed various missions, such as test performance and payload evaluations here, and reconnaissance missions to support the Global War on Terror. "Ironman" visited Edwards May 11 through 13 to shoot scenes for their upcoming new movie "Ironman 2". The movie's production included the support of about 60 members of Team Edwards taking part as extras and technical advisors. Another aircraft mishap ended in tragedy May 21, when a T-38 flying a test mission crashed, killing Major Mark P. Graziano, 30, assigned to the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards, where he was undergoing training to become a test pilot. Major Lee V. Jones, crew member, was also injured in the crash. The space shuttle Atlantis landed at Edwards, marking the 53rd space shuttle landing at Edwards May 24. The orbiter was diverted from Kennedy Space Station, Fla., due to bad weather. Illusionist Criss Angel made a visit to Edwards June 15 when he came to shoot scenes for the one-hour season premier for his 5th season of "Mindfreak" for the Arts & Entertainment Network. The first X-51A Scramjet Engine Demonstrator WaveRider vehicle arrived at Edwards Integrated Maintenance Facility, June 25. The X-51A SED program is intended to demonstrate air breathing hypersonic propulsion using a Pratt & Whitney Rocket dyne scramjet. The 25-foot long, 4,000 pound vehicle will be carried aloft on a B-52H Stratofortress and released in the Point Mugu Sea Range. A solid rocket booster will propel it to nearly Mach 5, where the scramjet will take over and continue to propel the X-51A for another 4 minutes to nearly Mach 6. The X-51A made its first captive carry Dec. 9. The captive carry was done by an Air Force Flight Test Center B-52H Stratofortress. The Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser YAL -1A prototype aircraft successfully acquired, tracked, provided atmospheric compensation and simulated the directed energy kill sequence against an instrumented boosting missile target using three onboard low-power lasers Aug 10. A British steam car traveled 148.308 miles per hour across an Edwards lakebed to set the record for the fastest speed traveled by a steam car Aug. 26. The record and track were officially recognized and ratified by the Federation Internationale de I'Automobile. Sept. 8 marked the end of the 101 Critical Days of Summer, during which Team Edwards incurred zero major mishaps. The first F-35 arrived at Edwards Sept. 8. During its extended stay at Edwards it will perform various perform barrier tests along with various other test points. The aircraft is associated with AFOTEC Detachment 1 which was activated here Oct. 2 in Hangar 1810. Space shuttle Discovery landed at Edwards Sept. 21. This was Edwards second shuttle landing of the calendar year and the third here in 13 months. The shuttle landed here because weather prevented the crew from returning to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. NASA's primary landing site. Team Edwards hosted Flight Test Nation 2009, their open house and air show Oct. 17. This was the base's first air show since 2006 and had 225,000 visitors from across the world. The air show was hosted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the X-15. Several hot-air balloons took off from Rosamond Dry Lakebed to recognize award winners and civic leaders. The event marked the first hot-air balloon flight from Edwards. With all the accomplishments of 2009 now history, Team Edwards moves forward ad inexplorata.