Watch: NASA T-38 trainer jets fly in formation above SLS megarocket launch pad

NASA astronauts performed a flyby of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket as it awaited the launch of Artemis 1 on August 29 in a stunning set of photos that they published on social media.

The pictures, which were recently taken above the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) SLS megarocket at Launch Complex 39B and the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, were posted on Twitter by astronauts Andrew Morgan, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Birch.

For more than 50 years, NASA has utilised Northrop T-38 Talon jets as training and pursuit aircraft. The twin-seat trainer can travel faster than most commercial aircraft—up to Mach 1.6 supersonic—and up to 40,000 feet in height.

"The T-38 is a great aircraft for what we need at NASA because it's fast, it's high-performance and it's very simple," retired NASA astronaut and former International Space Station Commander Terry Virts said in a NASA statement in 2011. "It's safe and it's known. So compared to other airplanes, it's definitely one of the best."

The launch of Artemis 1, which will carry an unmanned Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit and back, is expected to take place on Monday, August 29, according to a forecast from the U.S. Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron as of Thursday (August 25).

(with inputs from agencies)