“Each year, more than 750,000 visitors from around the
world come to Space Center Houston to learn about
America’s space program through our multitude of
exhibits and theatres,” said Richard Allen, president
and CEO of Space Center Houston. “Now, thanks to
Boeing’s generous contribution, we will be able to
produce an unparalleled attraction that will uniquely
showcase the wonders of NASA’s innovation and
technology. Once it is complete, the 747 will become a
vehicle of inspiration, lending her wings to the dreams
of imaginative students. The bulkheads of the 747 will
house teaching facilities, immersive experiences, and
rare artifacts that will thrill students to the
technical achievements of this historic program.”
The Shuttle Transport attraction is slated to open in
2015 and will expand Space Center Houston’s current
educational programs, which aim to encourage students to
consider careers in math and science. The new attraction
will serve as a one-of-a-kind classroom that will bring
all aspects of STEM education to life. “Johnson
is excited to see the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft remain in
Houston on permanent display for all to see," said Dr.
Ellen Ochoa, director of NASA-JSC. "The original orbiter
transport is an historic icon of the space shuttle era.
It truly will be an amazing attraction.”
Built in 1970 and acquired by NASA from American
Airlines in 1974, the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft flew
in wake vortex research studies by NASA's Flight
Research Center, now the Dryden Flight Research Center,
at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., before being modified
by Boeing for its new role as an SCA. It carried the
prototype shuttle Enterprise aloft in 1977 and launched
it five times during the space shuttle Approach and
Landing Tests at NASA Dryden.
Renamed NASA 905, the SCA then underwent further
modifications for the ferry flight role it would have
over more than three decades. Reaching a speed of Mach
0.6 (or 457 mph), it flew 70 of the 87 ferry flights
during the shuttle program's operational phase,
including 46 of the 54 post-mission ferry flights from
NASA Dryden to the Kennedy Space Center.
NASA 905’s last service for the Space Shuttle Program
was ferrying the Enterprise and the operational
shuttles, Discovery and Endeavour, to their retirement
homes in New York, Dulles Airport near Washington D.C.
and Los Angeles respectively in 2012. It then departed
NASA Dryden for the last time on Oct. 24, 2012, flying
to Ellington Field in Houston to await its final
retirement and disposition. It last flew when it was
taken aloft on a 90-minute pilot proficiency flight in
December 2012.
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