NASAs enormous Super Guppy cargo plane made a rare visit to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on Dec. 10.(Photo: Parker Leavitt/The Republic)

With a size and body more reminiscent of a whale than a tiny aquarium fish, NASA's Super Guppy plane made a rare stop at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on Dec. 10, drawing a crowd of spectators and photographers.

The massive, oddly-shaped cargo plane touched down in Mesa for about an hour on its way from Long Beach, Calif. The plane was carrying a "large wing part" headed to Langley Field in Virginia, airport officials said.

"This is absolutely amazing," San Tan Valley resident Kristen Young said shortly after the aircraft landed at around 11:30 a.m. "It's huge. I wasn't expecting it to be this big."

Young and several other moms from the Queen Creek Stroller Strides club brought their toddlers to the airport for an up-close glimpse of the plane. The group often visits the the airport for picnics while watching planes come in.

NASA's Guppy planes were developed in 1962 and played an instrumental role in support of the agency's Apollo program, which took the first humans to the moon in 1969.

The Super Guppy that landed at Gateway Airport is the last of its kind still in use, while several others are on display around the world. This was the plane's second visit to Mesa in the last 20 years, having also landed here last March.

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NASA Super Guppy jet makes rare stop in Mesa