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]