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