NASA research pilot and aerospace artist/photographer Mark Pestana has been recognized by Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine for his award-winning painting, "The Quest for Mach 10," which was published in the magazine's annual photography/art issue in late December. The painting depicts the NASA X-43 aircraft, chased by an F/A-18, after launch on its record-setting hypersonic flight to Mach 9.8 in November 2004. It took first place in the space category of the magazine's annual aviation art competition selected from paintings displayed at the American Society of Aviation Artists juried exhibit.
The special issue also features Pestana's photograph of a hot air balloon, one of the participants in the July 4 celebration in Bear Valley Springs, hovering over Cub Lake in the Tehachapi Mountains of Calif. Pestana's artwork and photography have appeared as honorable mentions in previous Aviation Week and Space Technology photography/art issues.
Several of his paintings are part of the Air Force art collection at the Pentagon, and he has also designed nine space shuttle mission patches.
A retired Air Force colonel, Pestana has been a research pilot and project manager at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for the past nine years.
