NASA's Airbus Industries, Super Guppy

he Boeing 377SG Super Guppy flew for the first time on 31 August 1965. Without the Super Guppy, the only other way to get NASA's Apollo rocket stages from California to Florida was on a slow boat through the Panama Canal. The Super Guppy cut not just days, but weeks and months out of the schedules. Of course, this success was also its downfall. Once the Apollo and Skylab programs were terminated, dwindling public interest in the space program forced cutbacks in funding. In an attempt to keep the company afloat, Aero Spacelines had to look for commercial applications for the Guppy.