5.8 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shuttle Carrier Aircraft | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Carrier_Aircraft | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:22:22.332194+00:00 | kb-cron |
The Approach and Landing Tests were a series of taxi and flight trials of the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise, conducted at Edwards Air Force Base in 1977. They verified the shuttle's flight characteristics when mated to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and when flying on its own, prior to the Shuttle system becoming operational. There were three taxi tests, eight captive flight tests and five free flight tests where the Enterprise was released from the SCA during flight and glided to a landing under its own control.
== Ferry flights ==
During the decades of Shuttle operations, the SCAs were most often used to transport the orbiters from Edwards Air Force Base, the shuttle's secondary landing site, to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at the Kennedy Space Center where the orbiter was processed for another launch. The SCAs were also used to transport the orbiters between manufacturer Rockwell International and NASA during initial delivery and mid-life refits. At the end of the Space Shuttle program the SCA was used to deliver the retired orbiters from the Kennedy Space Center to their museums. Discovery was flown to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum at Dulles International Airport on April 17, 2012, making low-level passes over Washington, D.C. landmarks before landing. Enterprise, which had been on display at the Smithsonian was transported to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City on April 27, 2012, making low-level passes over the city's landmarks, before landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where it was transferred by barge to the museum. The last ferry flight took Endeavour from Kennedy Space Center to Los Angeles between September 19 and 21, 2012 with refueling stops at Ellington Field and Edwards Air Force Base. After leaving Edwards the SCA with Endeavour performed low level flyovers above various landmarks across California, from Sacramento to the San Francisco Bay Area, before finally being delivered to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). From there the orbiter was transported through the streets of Los Angeles and Inglewood to its final destination, the California Science Center in Exposition Park.
== Retirement ==
Shuttle Carrier N911NA was retired on February 8, 2012, after its final mission to the Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base in Palmdale, California, and was used as a source of parts for NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft, another modified Boeing 747. N911NA is now preserved and on display at the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale, California as part of a long-term loan to the city from NASA.
Shuttle Carrier N905NA was used to ferry the retired Space Shuttles to their respective museums. After delivering Endeavour to the Los Angeles International Airport in September 2012, the aircraft was flown to the Dryden Flight Research Facility, where NASA intended it to join N911NA as a source of spare parts for NASA's SOFIA aircraft, but when NASA engineers surveyed N905NA they determined that it had few parts usable for SOFIA. In 2013, a decision was made to preserve N905NA and display it at Space Center Houston with the mockup Space Shuttle Independence mounted on its back. N905NA was flown to Ellington Field where it was carefully dismantled, ferried to the Johnson Space Center in seven major pieces (a process called The Big Move), reassembled, and finally mated with the replica shuttle in August 2014. The display, called Independence Plaza, opened to the public for the first time on January 23, 2016.
== Specifications ==
Data from Boeing 747-100 specifications, Jenkins 2000General characteristics Crew: Four: two pilots, two flight engineers (one flight engineer when not carrying Shuttle) Capacity: 108,999.6 kg (240,303 lb) payload (externally-mounted Orbiter) Length: 231 ft 4 in (70.51 m) Wingspan: 195 ft 8 in (59.64 m) Height: 63 ft 5 in (19.33 m) Wing area: 5,500 sq ft (510 m2) Empty weight: 318,000 lb (144,242 kg) Max takeoff weight: 710,000 lb (322,051 kg) Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7J turbofan engines, 50,000 lbf (220 kN) thrust each Performance
Cruise speed: 250 kn (290 mph, 460 km/h) / M0.6 with Shuttle Orbiter loaded Range: 1,150 nmi (1,320 mi, 2,130 km) with Shuttle Orbiter loaded Service ceiling: 15,000 ft (4,600 m) with Shuttle Orbiter loaded
== See also == Airborne aircraft carrier – Type of mother ship aircraft
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Antonov An-225 Mriya – Soviet/Ukrainian heavy strategic cargo aircraft Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy – Infrared telescope mounted on a converted Boeing 747 SP (2010–2022) Conroy Virtus – Proposed American large transport aircraft intended to carry the Space Shuttle Myasishchev VM-T – Conversion of Soviet M-4 Molot bomber to carry outsized cargo
Related lists
List of Boeing 747 operators
== References ==
== Further reading ==
== External links ==
NASA fact sheet Archived January 6, 2021, at the Wayback Machine NASA SCA images Archived February 24, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Interview with SCA Pilot and Former Astronaut Gordon Fullerton Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Interview with SCA Crew Chief Pete Seidl Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine "Hoot Gibson talks about John Kiker's 747 ferry model" on YouTube Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. TX-116-L, "Space Transportation System, Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX", 8 photos, 3 color transparencies, 3 photo caption pages