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Who's 747 is the shuttle on?

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Who's 747 is the shuttle on?

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Old Aug 22nd, 2005, 07:17 AM
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Who's 747 is the shuttle on?

Saw on the news that the space shuttle was flying back to Florida on a special modified 747 at a cost to taxpayers of $5 million. Who does this 747 belong to? Does it do regular flights? It looked like either an older 747 or a cargo 747.
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Old Aug 22nd, 2005, 07:22 AM
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NASA owns the 747s. Two of them, actually. One is a 747-100 and one is a 747-100ER.

NASA 905, the first SCA, was obtained by NASA from American Airlines in 1974. The second SCA aircraft, NASA 911, was a Japan Airlines aircraft acquired by NASA in 1988.
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Old Aug 22nd, 2005, 07:23 AM
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It belongs to NASA now. It did fly with AA colors years and years ago.

I believe NASA owns 2-3 of these.
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Old Aug 22nd, 2005, 08:21 AM
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Great shot of the 747 with the shuttle on top, making a landing. Notice the NASA logo.

<b>http://photos.airliners.net/photos/7/6/1/905167.jpg</b>
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Old Aug 22nd, 2005, 09:37 AM
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www.planespotters.net has a nice database.

N905NA is a 747-100 (line #86) delivered to AA in 1970. NASA got it in 1974.

N911NA is a 747-100SR (line #221) delivered to JAL in 1973. NASA got it in 1988. The SR is a short range edition specifically for the Japanese domestic market.

There's also a N747NA, 747SP (line #306) delivered to Pan Am in 1977. Transferred to UA in 1986 (with the Pacific routes, I presume) and to NASA in 1997. Latest status is &quot;stored&quot;.
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Old Sep 4th, 2005, 09:50 PM
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By stored, it is sitting in Marana, Arizona going through maintenance.

These aircraft are relatively &quot;young&quot; because they have relatively few cycles on them, even though they are some of the first 747s to have been built.
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