In an age where the words ‘environmental science’ and ‘air pollution’ are bandied about with fervent concern and genuine curiosity, a story unfolds in the skies of Thailand that could very well belong in the pages of an action-packed novel or on the storyboard of a gripping environmental documentary. This is the tale of NASA’s DC-8, an impressive aircraft not just for its age, but for its monumental mission in the name of science — a mission that had the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) buzzing with excitement. On a seemingly ordinary Monday morning at 10:30 AM, the residents of a sleepy province in Thailand looked up to witness a spectacle not commonly seen. A plane, 55 years young, gently carved its way through the skies at an unusually low altitude. This was no ordinary flight hiccup, but an expertly executed ‘missed approach’ manoeuvre; all in the name…









