A cargo aircraft used by NASA to transport huge delicate space components and equipment. The aircraft has a 7.6-m diameter fuselage to handle oversized loads and a unique fold-away nose that opens 110° for cargo loading. It is more than 43 m long with a wingspan of more than 47 m.
The first version, the Pregnant Guppy 377PG, was developed in 1962 by the California-based Aero Spacelines. The Pregnant Guppy replaced the only other means to move Apollo rocket stages from California to Florida, a slow ship-journey through the Panama Canal. The current aircraft, the Super Guppy 77SGT-F, has been used to transport components for the International Space Station.