EDWARDS Air Force Base, California — The B-52 Stratofortress that crashed during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing eight people, had ties to Texas A&M University.

The aircraft was named “The Spirit of Aggieland II” in 2015 by Col. Bruce Cox, a Texas A&M graduate who was then commander of the 307th Bomb Wing.

The plane was dedicated to past and future members of Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets.

“The aircraft … was familiar to generations of Aggies through flyovers above Kyle Field and its longstanding ties to Texas A&M,” Sen. Ted Cruz said.

In 2017, Cox took the final flight of his 31-year Air Force career aboard the aircraft, flying over Texas A&M, Kyle Field and the rest of Aggieland.

New flight-tracking data released Tuesday showed the aircraft made a sharp right turn shortly after takeoff and nearly completed a 180-degree turn before plunging to the ground. Data from AirNav Systems indicated the bomber descended at a rate of more than 5,000 feet per minute, nearly 10 times faster than a typical landing descent. Officials cautioned that the limited tracking data does not provide precise altitude or speed information and does not indicate what caused the crash.

Officials have not yet released the names of the victims.

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Lauren Smith told KBAK, the sister station of KVII in Bakersfield, California, that her husband, Jeromy Smith, was among them. She said he was a flight test engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense and died doing what he loved.

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“It is such a horrible hurt, and I’m still processing everything that happened,” Smith said.