Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 905 (front) and 911 (back)
Role	Outsize cargo freight aircraft Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Boeing
First flight	18 February 1977
Introduction	1977
Retired	2012
Status	Retired, both aircraft preserved
Primary users	NASA Boeing
Number built	2
Developed from	Boeing 747-100

The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) are two retired extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners that NASA used to transport Space Shuttle orbiters. One (N905NA) is a 747-100 model, while the other (N911NA) is a short-range 747-100SR.

The SCAs were used to ferry Space Shuttles from landing sites back to the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. The orbiters were placed on top of the SCAs by Mate-Demate Devices, large gantry-like structures that hoisted the orbiters off the ground for post-flight servicing then mated them with the SCAs for ferry flights.

In approach and landing test flights conducted in 1977, the test shuttle Enterprise was released from an SCA during flight and glided to a landing under its own control.^[1]

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NARRATOR: It has been called the world's greatest piggyback ride: a space shuttle, atop a Boeing 747 jet aircraft. But this is no ordinary 747, this is the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft...the SCA. This specially modified jumbo jet was not only a taxi service for the shuttle, but also helped in the development of the shuttle itself. In 30 years of flying, the majestic image of a spacecraft joined to the SCA, became a symbol of American invention and ingenuity. MUSIC NARRATOR: You searched the sky... you heard the roar of the engines getting closer... then someone would shout..."there it is." The SCA. In the 30 year history of the space shuttle, if you were one of millions of people who saw the SCA fly over your town, you understood the excitement it could generate. (Crowd cheering at SCA) Moultrie- "It was always a pleasure to have the locals come out; to have the kids be able to look up and see a shuttle on top of the airplane. That's certainly a huge memory of mine. When I was a teenager, when I lived in Huntsville, Alabama where I was raised...and at the time I was a Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville and looking up and seeing...THIS airplane. And who would have thought I would have ever have flown this airplane. How ironic that I would end up being a guy who flew the airplane and being lucky enough to be the last guy to fly this vehicle for a 30 year shuttle program." NARRATOR: The unique image of two sleek vehicles attached in a seemingly impossible configuration, evokes feelings of progress, elegance, and achievement. NARRATOR: To understand how the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft came to be, you must understand the shuttle itself. It was America's first reusable spacecraft. At the end of a space mission, the shuttle would reenter Earth's atmosphere, then it would glide down to a runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There engineers would get to work refitting the spacecraft for another mission. But NASA had other landing sites, such as Edwards Air Force Base in California. If the shuttle landed here...it would need a way back to its launch site in Florida. For flying the skies on Earth, NASA engineers first thought perhaps the shuttle could have its own jet engines. But these proved to be too heavy, too complex and too costly to develop. NASA would have to find another way to transport the shuttle. Enter John Kiker, an engineer at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Kiker: "I made a little sketch of this and put it on my desk, and then after several weeks I called up Boeing one day and told 'em not to laugh but I wanted to show 'em something." (Model airplane buzzing) NARRATOR: Using model airplanes, Kiker and his team proved the concept of transporting the shuttle on the back of a 747 jumbo jet. In addition, the tests showed the shuttle could be air launched off the back of the plane. The idea was accepted and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft was born. The SCA first flew the shuttle in what was called the Approach and Landing Tests. The shuttle Enterprise was lifted on the back of the SCA to an altitude of about twenty-seven thousand feet...and air launched. The aerodynamic tests were crucial in proving the shuttle's ability to glide down to a landing, and helped engineers refine the shuttle design. Just as significant, the imagery of the SCA and shuttle in action was the public's first glimpse of an amazing new era of spaceflight that was just on the horizon. The shuttle became a renowned and iconic space vehicle; the SCA allowed those of us on the Earth to share that excitement when it served role as a shuttle taxi. Mission by mission, SCA crews eagerly listened for word if the shuttle would have to land somewhere other than Florida... Moultrie: " We start getting excited when we hear the weather's bad in Florida. Those few of us that fly this airplane LIKE bad weather in Florida (laughs). We get a chance to do our jobs. So...as soon as we know the shuttle is en route to California, that's when we start getting involved with the shuttle ferry team. Moultrie: "Basically the shuttles are brought into the mate/de-mate facility and they're hoisted up, and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, the 747 is moved under the shuttle and then the attachments are made." NARRATOR: The shuttle and its cargo can weigh anywhere from one-hundred-sixty thousand, to two-hundred-twenty thousand pounds. To lift and fly with that much weight on its back, the SCA had some special modifications that make it unlike any other jetliner. Most noticeable were vertical fins mounted on the tail. The shuttle caused air turbulence and the fins brought back stability to the flight. Other than the fins, it might appear this was an ordinary jumbo jet. But as SCA Flight Engineer Henry Taylor can tell you, there were some very important differences between a regular 747 and a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Henry Taylor: " We're here inside the main cabin of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. As you can see, there's no insulation, no paneling, all the lavatories and galleys have been removed to save weight. Above me is one of the two bulkheads...this one and this one...that are used to provide support for the orbiter attach points." Taylor (continued): "The attach points for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft are in the same location that the orbiters attach to the external tank for launch. The aft section of the airplane, there's two struts with what we call balls...and those go up inside the orbiter. In the front, there's a small little tripod adapter fitting that mounts to the structure that's been added to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Somebody made a kind of joke, although it's relevant. By the aft attach points it says, "attach orbiter here, note: black side down," which of course, the black for the tiles...it's kind've a joke to make sure somebody doesn't put it on upside down." NARRATOR: Although the plane itself had all the necessary technical requirements, for a safe flight, the highly skilled crew monitored the systems carefully, and experienced a different type of ride... Moultrie: "From a pilot's stand point, there's a long wait, when the power is pushed up...you don't really realize the time that you're going to be on the runway before rotating the airplane into the air. There's a big wait. That was the big thing impressed upon me, I think, on my first shuttle ferry." NARRATOR: As the shuttle program ended, the SCA had one final mission: deliver the shuttles Enterprise, Discovery and Endeavour to their respective museums. Across the United States, for one last time, people got to see the unique vision of spacecraft and aircraft joined in flight. And with that, the SCA with a shuttle was not seen in the sky again, but it will always remind us of a bold age of determination and invention. Taylor: "When the orbiter is on top of the SCA, it creates so much interest because it is such a unique sight. People come out by the thousands to see us wherever we stop...to come see this very unique combination." Taylor: "People appreciate and people respond to things like that...it's American ingenuity and American pride." MUSIC / Jet sounds

Design and development

The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy was considered for the shuttle-carrier role by NASA but rejected in favor of the 747. This was due to the 747's low-wing design in comparison to the C-5's high-wing design, and also because the U.S. Air Force would have retained ownership of the C-5, while NASA could own the 747s outright.

The first aircraft, a Boeing 747-123 registered N905NA, was originally manufactured for American Airlines. With a decline in air traffic and failure to fill their 747s, American Airlines sold it to NASA. It still wore the visible American cheatlines while testing Enterprise in the 1970s. It was acquired in 1974 and initially used for trailing wake vortex research as part of a broader study by NASA Dryden, as well as Shuttle tests involving an F-104 flying in close formation and simulating a release from the 747.

The aircraft was extensively modified for NASA by Boeing in 1976.^[2] While first-class seats were kept for NASA passengers, its main cabin and insulation were stripped,^[3] and the fuselage was strengthened. Mounting struts were added on top of the 747, located to match the fittings on the Shuttle that attach it to the external fuel tank for launch.^[4] With the Shuttle riding on top, the center of gravity was altered. Vertical stabilizers were added to the tail to improve stability when the Orbiter was being carried. The avionics and engines were also upgraded.

An internal escape slide was added behind the flight deck^[5] in case of catastrophic failure mid-flight. In the event of a bail-out, explosives would be detonated to make an opening in the fuselage at the bottom of the slide, allowing the crew to exit through the slide and parachute to the ground. The slide system was removed following the Approach and Landing Tests because of concerns over the possibility of escaping crew members being ingested into an engine.^[6]

Flying with the additional drag and weight of the Orbiter imposed significant fuel and altitude penalties. The range was reduced to 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km; 1,200 mi), compared to an unladen range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi), requiring an SCA to stop several times to refuel on a transcontinental flight.^[7] Without the Orbiter, the SCA needed to carry ballast to balance its center of gravity.^[3] The SCA had an altitude ceiling of 15,000 feet (4,600 m) and a maximum cruise speed of Mach 0.6 with the orbiter attached.^[7] A crew of 170 took a week to prepare the shuttle and SCA for flight.^[8]

Studies were conducted to equip the SCA with aerial refueling equipment, a modification already made to the U.S. Air Force E-4 (modified 747-200s) and 747 tanker transports for the IIAF. However, during formation flying with a tanker aircraft to test refueling approaches, minor cracks were spotted on the tailfin of N905NA. While these were not likely to have been caused by the test flights, it was felt that there was no sense taking unnecessary risks. Since there was no urgent need to provide an aerial refueling capacity, the tests were suspended.

By 1983, SCA N905NA no longer carried the distinct American Airlines tricolor cheatline. NASA replaced it with its own livery, consisting of a white fuselage and a single blue cheatline.^[9] That year, after secretly being fitted with an infrared countermeasures system to protect it from heat-seeking missiles,^[10] it was also used to fly Enterprise on a tour in Europe, with refueling stops in Goose Bay, Canada; Keflavik, Iceland; England; and West Germany. It then went to the Paris Air Show.^[8]

In 1988, in the wake of the Challenger accident, NASA procured a surplus 747SR-46 from Japan Airlines. Registered N911NA, it entered service with NASA in 1990 after undergoing modifications similar to N905NA. It was first used in 1991 to ferry the new shuttle Endeavour from the manufacturers in Palmdale, California to Kennedy Space Center.

Based at the Dryden Flight Research Center within Edwards Air Force Base in California^[3] the two aircraft were functionally identical, although N911NA has five upper-deck windows on each side, while N905NA has only two.

The rear mounting points on both aircraft were labeled with humorous instructions to "attach orbiter here" or "place orbiter here", clarified by the precautionary note "black side down".^[11]^[12]

Shuttle Carriers were capable of operating from alternative shuttle landing sites such as those in the United Kingdom, Spain, and France. Because Shuttle Carrier's range is reduced while mated to an orbiter, additional preparations such as removal of the payload from the orbiter may have been necessary to reduce its weight.^[13]

Boeing transported its Phantom Ray unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator from St. Louis, Missouri, to Edwards on a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft on December 11, 2010.^[14]

Approach and Landing Tests

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 3 taxi tests, 8 captive flight tests and 5 free flight tests.^[5]

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.^[15]

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 the 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.^[16] 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.^[17]^[18]

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,^[16]^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[21] The display, called Independence Plaza, opened to the public for the first time on January 23, 2016.^[22]

Specifications

Data from Boeing 747-100 specifications^[23] Jenkins 2000^[7]

General characteristics

Crew: Four: two pilots, two flight engineers (one flight engineer when not carrying Shuttle)
Capacity: 108,999.6 kg (240,303 lb) payload (external Shuttle Orbiter Cargo)
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

References

^ NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (1977). "Shuttle Enterprise Free Flight". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. ECN-8607. Archived from the original on March 7, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2007.
^ Jenkins, Dennis R. (2000). Boeing 747-100/200/300/SP. AirlinerTech Series. Vol. 6. Specialty Press. pp. 36–38. ISBN 1-58007-026-4.
^ ^a ^b ^c Brack, Jon (September 17, 2012). "Inside the Space Shuttle Carrier Aircraft". National Geographic. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
^ How was Enterprise Held and Released from the Carrier 747
^ ^a ^b Approach and Landing Test Evaluation Team (February 1978). Space Shuttle Orbiter Approach and Landing Test: Final Evaluation Report (PDF). Houston: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
^ Creech, Gray (August 22, 2003). "Gravel Haulers: NASA's 747 Shuttle Carriers" (Press release). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Jenkins (2000), pp. 38–39.
^ ^a ^b Gilette, Felix (August 9, 2005). "How the Space Shuttle Flies Home". Slate. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
^ Comparison of photos taken in 1982 and 1983 at Airliners.net
^ Rogoway, Joseph Trevithick and Tyler (January 27, 2022). "Space Shuttle Carrying 747 Was Secretly Modified To Defend Itself From Heat-Seeking Missiles (Updated)". The Drive. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
^ 2003 Edwards Air Force Base Air Show, see Shuttle Carrier images.
^ Shuttle Carrier Aircraft N911NA album on Photobucket
^ "Space Shuttle Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) Sites" (PDF). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. December 2006. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
^ Boeing Phantom Ray to catch shuttle ride at Lambert
^ "STS Chronology". National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
^ ^a ^b NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 911's Final Flight
^ Gibbs, Yvonne (September 12, 2014). "Final Journey: SCA 911 on Display at Davies Airpark" (Press release). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
^ Gibbs, Yvonne (September 24, 2014). "NASA Armstrong Fact Sheet: Shuttle Carrier Aircraft". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
^ Landis, Tony. "A graphic history of 35 years of Space Shuttle ferry flights now adorns the upper forward fuselage of NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 905". National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
^ "Houston's Shuttle Gets New Name, Familiar Ride". Spaceflight Insider. October 8, 2013.
^ Hays, Brooks (August 14, 2014). "Shuttle replica lifted and put on top of 747 carrier". SpaceDaily. United Press International.
^ Cofield, Calla (January 29, 2016). "Seeing Is Believing: Enormous Shuttle Program Artifact Inspires Wonder". Space.com. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
^ Boeing 747-100 Technical Specifications, Boeing

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

NASA fact sheet
NASA SCA images
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

v t e Boeing 747 family
Base models	747-100 747SP 747-200 747-300 747-400 747-8 BBJ
Government & military	E-4 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft SOFIA VC-25 (Air Force One) YAL-1
Notable aircraft	747-400 LCF (Dreamlifter) 747 Supertanker City of Canberra Jumbo Stay N7470 N747PA N747GE N661US Spirit of Mojave
Topics	Hull losses In fiction Operators
Other	747 (performance art) Jumbo: The Plane that Changed the World

v t e Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle List of missions List of crews
Components	Orbiter Solid Rocket Booster External tank Main engine Orbital Maneuvering System Reaction control system Thermal protection system Booster separation motor
Orbiters	Enterprise Columbia Challenger Discovery Atlantis Endeavour
Add-ons	Spacelab (ESA) Canadarm (CSA) Extended Duration Orbiter Remote Controlled Orbiter Spacehab Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
Sites	Launch Complex 39 A B Space Launch Complex 6 Landing sites Shuttle Landing Facility Abort landing sites
Operations and training	Missions (canceled) Crews Mission timeline Rollbacks Abort modes Rendezvous pitch maneuver Shuttle Mission Simulator Shuttle Training Aircraft
Testing	Inspiration (design) Pathfinder (simulator) MPTA (engine test article) Approach and Landing Tests
Disasters	Challenger disaster (report) Columbia disaster (report)
Support	Crawler-transporter Mate-Demate Device Mobile Launcher Platform NASA recovery ship Orbiter Processing Facility Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) Shuttle Carrier Aircraft flights Shuttle Training Aircraft STS-3xx
Special	Deutschland-1 Getaway Special Journalist in Space Project Teacher in Space Project Shuttle-Mir Hitchhiker
Space suits	Extravehicular Mobility Unit Shuttle Ejection Escape Suit Launch Entry Suit Advanced Crew Escape Suit
Experiments	Freestar experiments Inflatable Antenna Experiment Spartan Packet Radio Experiment Shuttle pallet satellite Wake Shield Facility
Derivatives	Saturn-Shuttle Magnum Shuttle-Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle Jupiter Shuttle-C Shuttle-Centaur Ares I IV V Liberty Space Launch System OmegA
Replicas	Independence
Related	Space Shuttle design process studied designs Inertial Upper Stage Payload Assist Module International Space Station Criticism Retirement Conroy Virtus Hail Columbia (1982 documentary) The Dream Is Alive (1985 documentary) Challenger (1990 film) Destiny in Space (1994 documentary) Columbia: The Tragic Loss (2004 documentary) Hubble (2010 documentary) The Challenger Disaster (2013 film) Challenger: The Final Flight (2020 documentary miniseries) Space Shuttle America Rendezvous: A Space Shuttle Simulation Space Shuttle Project Shuttle Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space Space Shuttle Mission 2007 Orbiter Space Flight Simulator When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions

v t e Aircraft designed for the carriage of outsize cargo
In service	Beluga BelugaXL Dreamlifter (Large Cargo Freighter) Super Guppy Skymonster
Retired	An-225 Mriya Mini Guppy Pregnant Guppy Shuttle Carrier Aircraft VM-T
Unbuilt	Virtus RC-1 An-325

This page was last edited on 20 March 2024, at 15:44

v t e Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101)
Flights	Approach and Landing Tests Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
Status	Retired
On display	Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York City

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