Detailed tour through the Boeing 747 that carries the Space Shuttle Orbiter. 

I did a walk through of one of the SCA's at the Moffett Airfield airshow. Two things you don't see in this great video. The SCA's had a rather large pump in the middle of the interior which carried liquid to stabilize temperatures in the orbiter while being ferried. The second, and my favorite thing is a rather official looking stenciled warning on the fixing point for the strut connecting the Shuttle. It reads: "ATTACH ORBITER HERE NOTE: BLACK SIDE DOWN Somebody at NASA has a sense of humor.

WOOOO NEW PAUL STEWART VID JUST DROPPED

We here in Houston were devastated when NASA decided not to give us one of the remaining Space Shuttles, and are still bitter over how politics influenced where they would be retired. But getting the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft was a good consolation price, and the Johnson Space Center and Space Center Houston have done an amazing job turning a replica shuttle that was used for astronaut training into a very realistic mock-up and incorporating it into the entire display. I think that it is now a more thorough, interactive experience than what it would've ended up being with an actual Space Shuttle, but it still would've been nice to get one of them.

I have worked at Boeing for the last 15 years. So sad to see the very last 747 moving through the factory. True queen of the skies. A legend

6:35 if you want to see the shuttle being released from the 747 for a glide test, there is a video titled: Space Shuttle Enterprise 1st Test Flight August 12 1977

Ohhh just felt a little wee pop out 😬🤣 fantastic video 😎

I hope you enjoyed your stay in Houston during your visit to this aircraft at Johnson Space Center. As a resident I take visitors to tour the shuttle and 747 carrier craft. It is spectacular and fun to visit during the mild Houston winters. This exhibit is also halfway from downtown Houston to the beach in Galveston.

I wish 747 never retire and i wish Concorde fly again

What an amazing workhorse is the Boeing 747 - flying with a 78 tonne Space Shuttle on its back! So much more air drag and weight! Thanks Paul again for your commentary and videoing making this a really interesting presentation.

Carrying an elephant on your back (or 20!!), is one thing... then trying to fly as well! Incredible stuff! Thanks Paul!

I've seen this plane in a Tennessee visit one Summer day. What a Beautiful, flying Laboratory!! It was still in service then. Lovely. It was a sight to behold such a huge, manmade bird!!!

Awesome aircraft!! I had the pleasure to work on both Shuttle Carrier 747s, N905NA and N911NA and was part of the team that accomplished the Engine Pylon Attachment Reinforcement Service Bulletins while they were based at Marana, Arizona.

Wow that's awesome! Great video! Sad the upper deck was closed!😎🤙🔥

That is correct. The black boxes are always [safety] orange.

Great video from you Thank you for showing me!👍

Add another notch to the legacy of the Queen of the skies. This beatiful Heavy proven to be the most versatile platform ever to slip the surly bonds of Earth.

I was up and close to one that landed at my army base in the late 90's. I got a nice picture of it with the Shuttle. Then when the shuttle Discovery was being brought to Dulles I got a picture of it on final approach to Dulles international. Iconic aircraft carrying an iconic space craft.

What a wonderful machine. Such a versatile aeroplane. Joe Sutter and his team did an outstanding job making the 747. If I'm quick hopefully I get to fly on one again as a pasenger.

If it's a video about a 747, LOVE IT!!!!! thanks Paul

Those jet engines may not be as efficient or quiet as current models but are by far the coolest looking and will forever be my mental image of what a jet engine looks like. Thanks again for taking us on a tour as some of us couldn't if we wanted to due to health things.

I saw both Columbia and Challenger twice when being ferried. The first time was during USAF basic training at the end of 1983. We were marching back from just finishing the obstacle course when we heard the 747 engines and our flight was halted. We watched it until it was out of sight. The other times was when I was stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB. The base was a stopover and refueling stop.

Thanks for a great tour I was borne and grew up rite down the street from thier in Houston, with many Astronauts in my neighborhood thanks for showing this and hopefully inspiring more to pursue their dreams.

This is the coolest video ive seen!

Thanks for sharing this video. I was working in Jersey City when the shuttle carrier flew right over us in order to give Lower Manhattan a close up view. It was fascinating hearing those engines roar while being buzzed by a 747 with the Shuttle on top.

I was going to add a few things about the 747 SCA. With its range, the SCA obviously couldn't cross the Atlantic in a single hop with the Space Shuttle attached! It had to stop at least twice on the way over to Europe. The Space Shuttle that toured Europe was the prototype, the Enterprise. It toured around the continent in 1984 and 1985(?). When NASA was generally finished using the Enterprise for various fit checks of hardware (attachment to the ET and SRBs, test of the crawler and launch pad facilities with a "full-up" shuttle stack using the Enterprise in place of the Columbia), Enterprise was used as the centerpiece of PR campaigns. Besides its use as an international ambassador (I think they flew the Shuttle on the SCA through Europe and possibly Asia), the Enterprise was used as a static backdrop for President Reagan's speech on the occasion of Columbia's fourth and final orbital test flight in 1983. The Enterprise was possibly used as the backdrop instead of Columbia due to the fact it DIDN'T carry any volatile, highly toxic fuels in its spaceframe. You don't want to poison the leader of the country! (They had at least 2 technicians KILLED on the launchpad on the eve of the Columbia's first test flight because of a coolant or fuel leak from that Shuttle.) If you recall, the Shuttle was handled by technicians in hazmat suits immediately upon landing because of all the toxic fuels and liquids used by the Orbiter's electrical cooling systems as well as the unspent rocket propellants still in the RCS system. [They had to purge the surviving shuttles of all toxic materials and remove anything potentially health-threatening prior to bailing those flight vehicles to museums. I'm sure safety-proofing those orbiters was very expensive and cost millions of dollars for each vehicle.] The end of Columbia's final testflight was a unique occasion because I believe it may have been the only time the Enterprise, the Columbia, AND the Challenger were in one place! [The three Shuttles were NOT posed together; Challenger merely flew over the base where Enterprise and Columbia were landed. Enterprise was carried by the SCA to Edwards and demated with the special Shuttle crane. I believe the alternate SCA (and NOT the SCA used to transport Enterprise to Edwards) was used to transport Challenger.] The Challenger was flown over Edwards Air Force Base on its delivery to Kennedy Space Center for its first orbital flight. I think the Columbia was captured (on the ground) in a photo along with the Challenger on the SCA on its delivery flight to Kennedy Space Center. After the promotional tours, Enterprise was formally retired in 1985 and sat in a Dulles airport hangar for at least 15 years only being removed to test an emergency arrester landing barrier for the shuttle program; it transferred to the National Air & Space Museum's Dulles annex in the early 2000s (2003?) and later to the Intrepid Air, Sea & Space Museum when the Smithsonian exchanged the Enterprise for the Shuttle Discovery. They looked at refurbishing the Enterprise twice into a full-up Shuttle (circa 1979 and 1986) but that didn't happen because it was less expensive to build a new Shuttle out of existing spares than to entirely disassemble Enterprise and send all pieces back (very expensive shipping bills!) to all the subcontractors to have them refit to full (STRONGER) orbital standard. It wasn't just the lack of piping and rocket engines that kept Enterprise grounded. They reinforced the spaceframe and changed aspects of the internal frame design for the Columbia. To be frank, only the Discovery and Atlantis were much alike among the six built orbiters; they were built close together, and completed within a year of each other. (I think each Shuttle required 3-4 years to build and cost approximately $2 billion each in mid-1980s currency.) The other shuttles were constructed at least 2-3 years apart. The shuttle design evolved through the manufacturing of each vehicle so no 2 orbiters were exactly alike! Columbia was the heaviest flight vehicle and Endeavour was the lightest despite higher-capacity fuel and oxygen tanks as well as an integrated landing brake chute. When the shuttles flew on the SCAs, they avoided transporting the shuttles in bad weather. To fly through a rainstorm (remember, the ceiling was 15,000 ft for the SCA with the Shuttle attached!) would have at least damaged the heat shield tiles on the Orbiters. The Shuttle Intrepid on the back of the SCA in Houston, TX is NOT a flight vehicle. [This fact WAS mentioned in the video but it bears repeating; only Enterprise, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour are true space shuttles. Pieces of the destroyed Challenger and Columbia are now on display at the Kennedy Space Center.] It's a replica (mostly a hollow shell) built for the Johnson Space Center visitor's facility. With only four existing and intact space shuttle vehicles, the museums and facilities that lost bids for the flight vehicles had to content themselves with replica shuttles. There are at least 3-4 full-scale replica shuttles that I'm aware of. Pathfinder is another replica (originally a simple metal weight later refinished to resemble the actual flight vehicles more closely) used to test the launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center when the Enterprise wasn't available. There's another replica, Inspiration, in storage in LA but it's in pieces from what I understand. That display piece will be lucky if the LA city council remembers they're holding it in storage within the next 10 years!!! There's yet another Shuttle replica (full-size) at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH. That replica was built around one of the training units (a full-scale reproduction of the Shuttle's crew cabin) used during the Shuttle program. There's more than one crew cabin trainer but that's the only training unit I'm aware of incorporated into a full-scale spaceframe replica.

PUl as always terrific !

I was lucky enough to see this aircraft at Stansted in 1983 with the Enterprise attached. I still have photos of it.

Wow....I had totally forgotten that the space shuttles for a while, used these big gals for flying around. I only remember them being launched on the side of rockets !

You’ll never find attention to detail missing from any of your videos. I found this thoroughly informative as always. Thank you. Many questions answered

Great video, I'm so glad that both the SCAs ended up getting preserved, rather than being scrapped for parts.

I remember seeing the SCA and shuttle fly low over Montreal when it was coming back from that European tour.

Pretty cool that it had the sky interior. Adding a bit of style.

The other SCA is parked outside the NASA facility at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. Palmdale is where the Space Shuttle Orbiter vehicles were constructed and there was an Orbiter Mate/Demate Device at Site 1 of Plant 42 where they could be installed onto the SCA.

With a rough calculation in cruise the 747 must haved used about 20 plus ton of fuel an hour in full configeration carriying a shuttle.Yikes.

I remember seeing this flying over Manchester when I was 7, quality👍🏻

Thank-you for another great video!

Thanks Paul... I have a patch for the Orbiter test flight Enterprise..👍✈️🇳🇿

The plane and shuttle flew over my house in Bossier city Louisiana in the 80s about ti land at BAFB.

I really appreciate how you pause the video on the parts you are talking about that need to be seen for more than a few seconds. Great little series on this program!

Very interesting video. My son and I toured this aircraft about one month ago during a visit to the JSC and I have to admit I learned a lot of things about it from your video that I missed while walking through it! We’ll done.

Loved the video. Thanks for all the great info!

GREAT VIDEO 👍

The landing gear compartment is like the size of my whole apartment already 😭😫😂

I've really bean waiting for this one. Thank you, mate.

REALLY NEAT VID!! Thx for all your content.😉✌️

I look forward to your vids so much, did not disappoint! Have a fruit juice for me 🥂

So iconic! Amazing job mate, would love to check this one out one day.

Damn, awesome content!

When the Sca was planned to fly the shuttle around Los Angeles I mention it that he should take pictures. Oh my cameras broken. I'll take pictures of the next one. I explained there won't be any more ever. He actually bought a new camera and went up on the roof across the street from his house in silverlake. Got absolute stunning photos of the SCA with the shuttle and the T38 chase planes with the hollywood sign in the foreground.

Looks awesome Paul I’ve seen videos of the SCA and I can’t wait to video to see it someday!

Thank you for all these in-depth tours! Cheers!!

space center houston is so fun, if you pass by Ellington airfield every few hours you would’ve caught a glimpse of F-16s taking off and if you’re lucky perhaps a coast guard helicopter too

Nice I was in this aircraft back in November

Awesome, thank you 😊

This is simply amazing! Thank you for covering the SCA with such an indepth video! Another great work and commentary!

Amazing that the fan is still turning after all these years without lubrication so easily!

Bravo! Thanks!!

My goodness the landing gear bay looks like a hangar for other planes lmao its so massive

Say what you like about 21st century Boeing but, wow these guys used to build incredible planes!

Great vid, such a shame the upper deck was closed, it's what made the 747

There is also another 747 SCA at the Palmdale Heritage Airpark and I am honored to have seen it besides the Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center. They are going to build the new Air and Space Center next door in three years.

Awesome video, Paul. We are so lucky these museums are available to the public.

Another cool video Paul! Thanks.

Good one Paul. More information than on most documentaries. Thanks for posting!

I was just there a few weeks ago!

Well done. Interesting as always. This is about as close as I will ever get to one of these.

Load Clear 👍

Thanks for another great video Paul

God bless USA & England. Brothers forever. 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇸🇬🇧🇺🇸🇬🇧

Great video, I’d only add that the SCA really only flew at 15,000’ - at that height the temperatures aren’t nearly as cold as you mentioned. Also the CG was pretty optimal, especially with the slight lift benefit of the orbiter (minimal, but still.) At the end of the day, the plane was drag-limited and not really weight limited. Oh also they didn’t remove fuel to save weight - the performance with an orbiter attached was so minimal (especially given their low cruise altitude) that they needed a lot of fuel for any given flight (vs a standard 747 of the same type.)

Absolutely fantastic video. I have always been fascinated by the 747 carrying a space shuttle, this video answered a lot of questions.

I want to Hug that 747

very unique aircraft setup, thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much, Paul, for sharing your awesome documentary with us.

another brilliant video, well done thank you Sir. cheers from NZ

Didn't know, until now, that there were two!

What a beauty!

Another great video Paul! So good seeing inside this beauty!

very interesting one, thanks, Paul.

You didn't see the sign that says "attach orbiter here, black side down"

Very interesting! really stable camera work too!

Great video, thanks Paul. Amazing solution to an extraordinary problem.

Excellent tour Paul as always very interesting and informative I was interested that they use pig iron as a counterbalance instead of the depleted uranium that was probably used when this 747-100 was manufactured... Cheers mate 👍

Great video thanks for posting Paul. Personally I will never get enough 747 and wish for its return to passenger service and production.

I was lucky (Very luck) to sit in the pilots seat of the Space Shuttle Discoverys Orbiter. A friend was retiring after many years of working in the Shuttle Program & he convinced the powers to be to let me go in briefly. Got a picture if you want me to email it to you.

Still loving your videos still just as great and informative as day one! Going to Duxford in 3 weeks time looking forward to it! If you forgot to take pictures of anything let me know and I'll send them over x

That was amazing, one of your best yet. I’d never seen the inside of the SCA. I wish you had taken a close up of the rear mounting points on the SCA to the shuttle, as they are marked with the warning “Mount Black Side Down” as a joke.

great video!

And another thing Paul, American Airlines wasn’t the only airline where NASA bought the 747 and used it to transport a space shuttle.

I saw it do a low fly-by at Manchester (Ringway, MAN) after (I think) the Paris Air show.

Hi Paul thank you for interesting video amazing aircraft

"Attach Orbiter here - Note: black side down" ~ sign on attachment points...

Welcome to Houston. Hope to maybe see a video of the Saturn 5?

COOL 😎

Boy, you got around ‼Don't know if you're headed there, (I was) but near Orlando, you can get a private tour of the currently closed Fantasy of Flight facility, supposed to be the largest private aircraft collection there is, and of course, there's NASA Kennedy out of the coast, which IMO is at a different level to Houston. Actually, at Tampa, you can also do a demo flight in an Icon A5, a light sport amphibian. (FoF has a Short Sunderland that used to fly out of Rose Bay to Lord Howe, bought from RNZAF, Ansett stripped her of her turrets)

Love the video do you think 🤔 you can fly southwest

such an interesting video as always & I just wanted to ask if you had a favourite airline or aircraft model what would it be?

Yooo I was just there 2 weeks ago!

Is that a real shuttle mounted on top of the 747 or just a mock up? Awesome video as usual, thanks for sharing!

In the beginning I thought the Orbiter landed on the 747 and then gets delivered where necessary.