INSIDE: == NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft 747-100 , N905NA

NASA had two 747s which they used to carry the Space Shuttles. The primary 747-100 (N905NA)was acquired from American Airlines and its internal structure strengthened in 1974. A second 747-100 (N911NA) was purchased from Japan Airlines in 1989 and was a shorter range carrier. These aircraft in NASA-speak were “SCAs”, or Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Both were parked at Edwards Airforce Base north of Los Angeles when not in use. N911NA has now been retired. N905NA is on its final flights. When it delivers the Endeavour to Los Angeles International Airport (scheduled for September 20, 2012), this airplane will be flown back to Edwards, parked and taken out of service. It is now expected that this airplane will be canibalized and not used again. No one has indicated any interest in saving her in a museum.

.

NASA Flight Engineer Henry Taylor stands in front of the 747-100 on Wednesday morning, September 12, 2012, on the tarmac at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Taylor has flown the NASA 747-100s as a flight engineer for three decades, and he was flight engineer when NASA took delivery of the Endeavour. On Tuesday, September 11, 2012, he was flight engineer on the final eastward flight of NASA’s N905NA 747-100. He will remain flight engineer as this aircraft flies the Endeavour west to Los Angeles on what will be the last flight for both the Endeavour, and for NASA’s 747-100 SCA.

.

.

Pilot Jeff Moultrie, here and directly above, spoke with media on the tarmac at Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, September 12, 2012. NASA invited selected media on board to tour the 747-100 on its final stop on the east coast. The Shuttle Endeavour will be placed on top N905NA on Friday, September 15 and was to depart KSC at first light on Monday, September 17, 2012.

.

Weight is a critical issue in transporting the shuttle, as is weather and altitude. Inside the 747-100 is empty. In the distance on the top of the cabin are several reinforcing struts to carry the weight of the shuttle which was attached to the top of the 747-100. Outside the skin of the 747-100 was also enhanced and connectors installed. The tail of the 747 also has extra vertical stabilizers. In all, however, the pilots say the 747 does not handle much different than a regular 747, except that extra care must be taken in banking and turning.

.

Two pilots and a flight engineer fly the 747. Additionally, sometimes a representative of the FAA is on board, but has no authority because the NASA 747s are experimental aircraft and the FAA has no authority over NASA. Because flights are often short (600 to 1,100 miles with the shuttle attached) there are no bunks to sleep in and only about 25 seats on the upper and main decks forward. They are all very comfortable first class seats, and the bathroom is huge. The 747s have a circular staircase between decks. Commercial airlines in the 1960s sometimes built a piano bar (with piano) on the upper deck for its first class passengers. How times have changed.

.

This is a closeup of one of the connectors on top of the 747. Note that it comes with instructions reminding those placing the shuttle on top of the 747 to put the “black side” where the insulating tiles are located down.

.

Pete Crow, Seine/Harbour® Productions, sits in the commander’s seat of NASA’s Shuttle Carrier 747-100, during its final stop in Florida where it picked up, and carried, the Shuttle Endeavour to Los Angeles and the California Science Center.

.

Carol Anne Swagler, The Grove Sun, Grove, Oklahoma, stands in front of NASA’s Shuttle Carrier Aircraft at Kennedy Space Center on September 12, 2012. Ms. Swagler is a veteran NASA reporter and has covered numerous launches of the shuttle, the Mars Science Laboratory, GRAIL, Space X and others. In the two weeks prior to this week-long NASA event she photographed the Republican and Democratic Conventions in Tampa and Charlotte. This was the final visit of NASA’s N905NA to the east coast and to KSC. After delivering the Endeavour to Los Angeles International Airport on September 20, 2012, the airplane was scheduled to be flown back to Edwards Air Force Base, parked, and junked.

Readers are reminded that this blog content and its photographs are jointly copyright 2012 by Seine/Harbour® Productions LLC, Studio City, California, and by the Peter Michael Crow Trust.

.

Read Full Post »

Endeavour — your ride has arrived.

NASA’s 747-100 SCA lands after trans-continental flight from Edwards AFB, California to Kennedy Space Center Florida, on September 11, 2012.

On Monday, September 17, 2012, Endeavour, atop this 747-100, will begin its final journal across the United States to Los Angeles and to the California Science Center.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour will arrive at the CSC on Saturday October 13, 2012 after an overnight and full day’s journey through the streets of Los Angeles from Los Angeles International Airport.

NASA’s 747-100, known as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), took off from Edwards Air Force Base at 8:26 am PDT and landed on the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility 5 hours 39 minutes after its non-stop transcontinental flight.

.

Few media showed up for the landing. Only nine media attended. NASA sent five staff members to keep an eye on them. The landing begins a series of seven days of activities at the Kennedy Space Center, culminating in the departure of the Endeavour at dawn on September 17, 2012.

.

Later in the week media will be taken on board the 747-100, interview the crew, see updates to Kennedy launching pads, visit the old firing rooms and view the mating of the Endeavour to the top of the NASA 747-100.

.

The flight path of NASA flight 905 from KEDW to KTTS on September 11, 2012.

.

Stats on NASA Flight 905 from Flight Aware — http://www.flightaware.com

Read Full Post »

Space Shuttle Endeavour’s flight to Los Angeles: Details: NASA Press Release

(this is text of a NASA press release on Saturday, September 8, 2012)

WASHINGTON — Space shuttle Endeavour, mounted atop NASA’s modified

747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), will make the final ferry flight

of the Space Shuttle Program era when it departs Monday, Sept. 17,

from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida headed to Los Angeles

International Airport (LAX).

Endeavour, at top, leaves the OPF for the final time and heads for the VAB, as Atlantis takes its place. The switch took place in August 2012. Endeavour leaves KSC on September 17 and arrives in Los Angeles on September 20. It goes to the California Science Museum overnight October 12, arriving the afternoon of October 13. Atlantis goes down the road to the KSC visitor’s Center, scheduled to arrive on November 2. These are the last of the shuttles, and shuttle mockups that remain at KSC. When they are gone, the program is fully ended and the last personnel who worked on them will be gone as well. -photograph by Pete Crow for Seine/Harbour® Productions

On Oct. 11, 2011, NASA transferred title and ownership of Endeavour to

the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Under the terms of a

Space Act Agreement with the science center, NASA will safely

transport Endeavour to LAX for a planned arrival on Thursday, Sept.

20.

In cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration, the SCA is

scheduled to conduct low-level flyovers at about 1,500 feet above

locations along the planned flight path. The exact timing and path of

the ferry flight will depend on weather conditions and operational

constraints. Some planned flyovers or stopovers could be delayed or

cancelled. If the ferry flight must be postponed for any reason, an

additional advisory will be issued.

At sunrise on Sept. 17, the SCA and Endeavour will depart Kennedy’s

Shuttle Landing Facility and perform a flyover of various areas of

the Space Coast, including Kennedy, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor

Complex, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base.

The aircraft will fly west and conduct low flyovers of NASA’s Stennis

Space Center in Mississippi and the agency’s Michoud Assembly

Facility in New Orleans. As it arrives over the Texas Gulf Coast

area, the SCA will perform low flyovers above various areas of

Houston, Clear Lake and Galveston before landing at Ellington Field

near NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Weather permitting, the SCA and

Endeavour will stay at Ellington the remainder of Sept. 17 and all

day Sept. 18.

At sunrise on Wednesday, Sept. 19, the aircraft will depart Houston,

make a refueling stop at Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas, and

conduct low-level flyovers of White Sands Test Facility near Las

Cruces, N.M., and NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air

Force Base in California, before landing around mid-day at Dryden.

On the morning of Sept. 20, the SCA and Endeavour will take off from

Dryden and perform a low-level flyover of northern California,

passing near NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.,

and various landmarks in multiple cities, including San Francisco and

Sacramento. The aircraft also will conduct a flyover of many Los

Angeles sites before landing about 11 a.m. PDT at LAX.

Social media users are encouraged to share their Endeavour sightings

using the hashtags #spottheshuttle and #OV105, Endeavour’s orbiter

vehicle designation.

After arrival at LAX, Endeavour will be removed from the SCA and spend

a few weeks at a United Airlines hangar undergoing preparations for

transport and display. Endeavour then will travel through Inglewood

and Los Angeles city streets on a 12-mile journey from the airport to

the science center, arriving in the evening on Oct. 13.

Beginning Oct. 30, the shuttle will be on display in the science

center’s Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion,

embarking on its new mission to commemorate past achievements in

space and educate and inspire future generations of explorers.

Endeavour completed 25 missions, spent 299 days in orbit, and orbited

Earth 4,671 times while traveling 122,883,151 miles.

For information about NASA’s transfer of space shuttles to museums,

visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/transition

For more about NASA missions and programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

Read Full Post »