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Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
Photos credit: collectSPACE/Robert Z. Pearlman

Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

NASA 905 still retains some of its original American Airlines' first class furnishings and carpeting for its flight crew.


Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

The forward bulkhead includes this embossed image of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) and space shuttle orbiter during a ferry flight.


Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Captain and first officer stations in NASA 905's cockpit.


Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Captain's control yoke in NASA 905's cockpit.


Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Kennedy Space Center's Mate Demate Device, used to load and unload shuttle orbiters from atop the SCA, as seen through NASA 905's cockpit forward windows.


Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

The space shuttle Mate-Demate Device (MDD) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist the orbiters off the ground during mating and demating operations with the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA).


Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft


Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

The names of NASA 905's final flight crew, its pilots and flight engineers for its last series of ferry flights, was added to the aircraft's nose. They include Henry Taylor, Larry LaRose, Jeff Moultrie, Bill Rieke, Bill Brockett, Arthur "Ace" Beall, Bob Zimmermann and Frank Batteas.


Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft


Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

Two additional vertical stabilizers, one on each end of the 747's standard horizontal stabilizer, were added to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to enhance directional stability.

Related article: Now boarding: Inside NASA's Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft



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