Shuttle-Carrier N905NA
Today, the last Shuttle-carrier. The University of Houston presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.
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NASA faced a problem when it first began launching Shuttles into orbit. They were launched from Florida. But many had to land far away. How to get them home? Enter a NASA engineer, John Kiker. Kiker also made radio-controlled model airplanes.
He built a sequence of model Boeing 747s that carried Shuttle models on top. He built, failed, rebuilt – and eventually showed how shuttles could ride, piggy-back, to Florida. It was a bold solution. And it worked.
Boeing modified two 747s to carry Shuttles. And just imagine: Those shuttles weighed over a hundred tons. That meant considerable structural reinforcement on the 747 bodies. The first of those was called simply, N905NA. And it did most of the work. It first carried the prototype Shuttle Enterprise in 1977. Then, over the next thirty-five years, it ferried Shuttles two-hundred and twenty-two times.
Last public viewing of N905NA and the Shuttle
Of course NASA eventually retired the Shuttles. Instead, they sent astronauts to the International Space Station. And they sent the first Shuttle to Space Center Houston. There it would be displayed with a Shuttle mockup riding on its back. And here the fun begins:
The nearest airport to the Space Center was Ellington Field – about four and a half miles away, as the crow flies. But this was no crow flight. It was a complex ground trip through a densely populated area. The only way to make that trip was to dismantle the airplane and reassemble it at NASA.
So: two NASA engineers took me out to see this noble airplane scattered across a field by the airport. It was a shock. And it was also very revealing. Now one could see the many structural features of both the original airplane, and the modifications that’d let it carry that huge Shuttle.
N905NA dismantled
I could see nothing aerodynamic in the huge I-beam hidden inside the wing to hold it to the fuselage. And, where passengers once sat, was empty space girdled with additional structure to support the Shuttle. We wandered the field: tail pieces here, wings over there, all the landing gear lined up on the side.
I-beam that holds the N905NA wing
Then we ascend a stairway to the cockpit. And there we paused to look back over the length of that huge fuselage. There is shown the complete record of its service – sixty Columbia flights, twenty Challenger flights – the list continues toward the tail. And I know I’ve been privileged to touch history.
The history of N905NA Shuttle carries
Today, that vast rebuilt airplane charms Space Center visitors. I have family all the way from Oregon who were awed by it. But I can’t bring myself to go. Because I treasure my moment out on the airfield – that moment of intimacy with history. That moment of finality.
I’m John Lienhard, at the University of Houston, where we’re interested in the way inventive minds work.
(Theme music)
Some sources:
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft - Wikipedia
John Kiker movie: NASA Uses Models to Transport a Shuttle
Space Center Houston - Wikipedia
Ellington Airport (Texas) - Wikipedia
All photos by J H lienhard. You may view all of my photos of the dismantled N905NA here.
This Episode first aired on June 15, 2026.