A large crane gingerly lowers an F/A-18 Hornet aircraft onto a 28-foot-tall pedestal in front of the municipal baseball stadium in the city of Lancaster, California. The blue-and-white F/A-18 was recently loaned to the city by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. NASA Dryden had flown the twin-jet aircraft as a safety chase and support aircraft over the past nine years. The stadium, known as ''The Hangar,'' is the home field of the Lancaster Jethawks, a Class-A farm team of the Seattle Mariners.