When Jim Voss misses an AirVenture, he has a good reason. Even while serving on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2001, he gave a talk on Life on the ISS to a Theater in the Woods audience. This year, his Long-Ez was the first Experimental airplane to arrive and he plans to stay all week. You can check out his uniquely painted canard plane in front (to the east) of Homebuilder Headquarters in the “Over 1000 hours; Over 20 years old” display area.
Voss’ project began at Oshkosh 1988 when he first saw the Long-Ez. The young engineer bought the plans, spent 4000 hours building, and flew in 1984. The veteran of five space flights, 201 days in space, and 22 hours and 35 minutes of Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA or spacewalk) decided it was time to repaint the Long-Ez about 15 years ago. “Mike Huff, my painter friend, airbrushed paintings of each of the things I flew while in space – Space Shuttle, International Space Station, U.S. Extra Vehicular Mobility Unit (EMU or spacesuit), Russian Orion spacesuit, and the Russian Soyuz capsule,” says Voss. “The airwork is on the rudders and on the speedbrake on the belly of the aircraft.”
