Challenger Airlines

Transcription

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