NASA Space Shuttle-Carrying Jumbo Jet Retires After One Last Flight

by Robert Z. Pearlman, collectSPACE.com Editor

Date: 13 February 2012 Time: 02:50 PM ET

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space shuttle program, nasa shuttle program, space shuttle carrier aircraft, shuttle 747 jet piggyback, NASA 911 shuttle carrier aircraft, nasa shuttle retirement CREDIT: NASA/Tony Landis View full size image

One of only two planes ever to carry NASA's space shuttles on piggy-back rides across the country has taken its last flight after more than 20 years of service.
NASA 911, one of the two Boeing 747 jetliners that were modified for use as a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) made its last flight Wednesday(Feb. 8). The four-engine jumbo jet, which was used to ferry shuttles between their West Coast landing site and East Coast launch site, flew its final mission making the short hop from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base to Dryden's Aircraft Operations Facility located adjacent to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The flight lasted about 20 minutes.
With the end of the shuttle program last summer, only one of the carrier aircraft — the original, NASA 905 — is still needed to fly the orbiters to their respective museums for public display.
In its retirement, NASA 911 will be used as a source of spare parts to keep NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) flying. Also based around a Boeing 747, SOFIA uses the jetliner as a platform for a 100-inch (2.5-meter) reflecting telescope. [NASA's Space Shuttle Program in Photos]

MORE: http://www.space.com/14555-space-shuttle-piggyback-jumbo-jet-retired.html

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