How is shuttle attached to 747

The fuselage was strengthened to take the weight placed on it, and mounting struts were added on top of the fuselage to hold the shuttle. Major changes were made to the tail, with vertical stabilizers added to the main horizontal stabilizers. This was to counter the change in the center of gravity when the shuttle was mounted. When flying without the shuttle, ballast weight had to be added to maintain the center of gravity.

Once modifications were made to the fuselage, the shuttle could be lifted onto the top of the fuselage and latched into place. This was no simple operation — with some reports claiming it took up to a week for the crew to prepare and attach the shuttle prior to a flight mission. There were three struts used for attachment. The single forward strut was atop the upper deck. And the two aft struts were midway along the fuselage. The SCA and its attachment struts also served another purpose besides ferry flights of the shuttle.

The Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise went through an extensive series of tests in These tests included flights attached to the SCA to establish safe operation. But it also involved free test flights of the shuttle. For this, the shuttle was carried to altitude by the SCA, then released to allow a free flight glide and return to land.

Once the shuttle is connected they tow both back out. In flight over the desert, they get to do the opposite on the other end to get it off and ready to take off. Image credit: NASA. To see a time lapse video of this process check out Gizmodo. American ingenuity at its best. This whole procedure is radiating with awesomeness; though I doubt watching it in real time is all that exciting.

Unfortunately, the Shuttle is almost as old as the Ford Panther platform, and really shouldn't be going into space anymore. The A. By Matt Hardigree. No passengers, luggage, food, water, cargo. Built for maximum power, maximum lift. NASA changed the original design by adding vertical stabilizers to the plane's tail to improve directional stability.

It also did a lot of testing on how to attach the spacecraft to the airplane to achieve the best aerodynamics. NASA's choice of the to ferry the shuttle is just one more example of the importance of the aircraft. Nicknamed the Jumbo Jet when it entered commercial service in with Pan Am, it was the world's first wide-body airliner, offering unprecedented seating capacity and long range.

It helped open up global air travel to an entire generation. Forty-five years after its birth, the four-engine is losing favor among some major airlines, which are trading them for more efficient, twin-engine wide-bodies. NASA bought it as a testing aircraft four years later.