A NASA airplane designed around the U-2 spy plane of Cold War fame is calling Colorado Springs home, flying from the Colorado Springs Airport as the U.S. Geologic Survey and NASA partner to survey Western states for critical minerals.   From left to right: Raymond Kokaly, USGS geophysicist, Matt Morgan, director, Colorado Geological Survey and president, American Association of State Geologists, and Teresa Kirschling, deputy associate director, U.S. Geological Survey brief members of the media in front of a NASA ER-2 calling Colorado Springs home until May 20. (Alex Edwards, the Gazette) The airplane is part of the ongoing effort to find minerals like titanium, nickel and aluminum, critical to the nation’s commercial economy and its national security.…