Extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners that NASA used to transport Space Shuttle orbiters
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]
^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.
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