Someone from NASA has sent us this unique video of shuttle Atlantis: A time lapse of the shuttle getting ready to be mounted on its 747 mothership at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, just before returning to Florida. I just can't believe how complex and laborious something that is conceptually so simple could be.

It's just sad that many people take for granted the hard and complex work that the boys and girls at NASA do to keep the much-needed space exploration going on with a meager budget.

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Rob Cockerham at PopSci got to see it in action, and took a few photographs of this mighty—and extremely useful—sploshing megalomaniac dream machine. [Popsci]

Like the Dreamliner—pictured here—its interior is designed to reduce jetlag in long range flights. It will be a lot quieter than the current 747, and it will have the same "new curved, upswept architecture" to make it airier and give passengers more room for personal belongings. Also like the 787, the Intercontinental will use special lighting to provide "smooth transitions for a more restful flight."

The other big difference is the size. While it won't be nearly as big as the Airbus A380 or allow to have full beds, it will be 18.3 feet longer and have a larger upper deck.

According to the company, the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental will arrive in late 2011.

According to some urban explorers, the restaurant is the plane above these lines, the second 747 ever made and the first to fly commercially. It did it for Pan Am until it was decommissioned and most of its fuselage was sent to South Korea, where it sits now, serving as a restaurant building.

[Dark Roasted Blend]

Thanks to 45 different software programs running on 14 different computers, the simulator allows Sheil to fly to and from 27,000 different airports around the world with breathtaking realism.

Sheil is part of a growing network of enthusiasts from around the globe that serve as pilots and air traffic controllers in a virtual word. This network is amazingly complex:

In Sheil's simulator, computer screens replace the windows and if he is flying in the virtual world behind a person in Melbourne, and they are using a Qantas 767, "we actually see a Qantas 767 out the window - the software puts it in there for us - and he sees us".

Moreover, if Sheil flies through Russia, he is greeted by a volunteer Russian air traffic controller. Cars can be seen on the road when he comes in to land and people wave at him from the terminals.

What's even more amazing is that he managed to build the simulator for around $300,000 AUD (around $197,000 US) whereas professional training simulators can cost upwards of $40 million. This was made possible largely through donated parts given to Sheil because of his charity work. In return, all of the money he earns renting out the simulator is donated to the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). Still, this remarkable feat earned him the Guinness record for the "world's most expensive home flight simulator" (because Guinness will give out records for anything nowadays). As far as the cheapest is concerned, it would be hard to beat the $30,000 bedroom 747 simulator in terms of value. [SMH via Fark]

"You're exactly what I want the pilot of Air Force One to look like. You look like Sam Shepard [the actor who played Chuck Yeager] in The Right Stuff," the President says. Indeed he does. And he could have been Yeager himself, as only the finest pilots—with more than 2,000 hours in the cockpit throughout the world and a perfect record—can be on command of this plane.

The pilot has to be really good because he has to be able to dodge every single bullet for the President. Since Air Force One rarely has fighter escort, the plane depends on its own in case of an attack until the cavalry arrives (I don't know why it doesn't have escort, but hey, I guess the Secret Service knows better). Back in 1974, for example, the pilot had to execute some extreme evasive actions when four combat airplanes intercepted Air Force One in Syria's airspace. They weren't in danger, however: They were just unannounced escorts sent by the always-friendly Syrian government.

The habitual Air Force One is an specially-prepared Boeing 747, a 231-feet long 400-ton airplane with a cabin area of 4,000 square feet. Two of them were ordered during the Reagan administration—Nancy decorated them personally—and since then they have been going through plenty of retrofitting, including the addition of attack countermeasures (which are classified), encoded digital communications (28 lines in case of wiretapping, plus 59 non-encrypted), and electromagnetic impulse (EMP) shielding, in case the United States suffers a nuclear attack.

And apparently, they also do great burgers with cheddar cheese and dijon mustard. [National Geographic]

Click on the image above to get the 1600 x 1200 pixel version

Space Shuttle mission STS-126—which brought the materials and made the renovations at the International Space Station—had to land at the Edwards Air Force Base on November 30. Here you can see it as it touches down that day, on Runway 4 at 4:25:06 PM.

The landing was actually a detour from its original landing point in Cape Canaveral, Florida, caused by weather conditions. When this strange occurrence happens, NASA has to fly back the shuttle to the Kennedy Space Center, so it can get revised and fixed for the next flight. The whole trip costs NASA a total of $1.8 million, including flying the modified 747 and getting the shuttle ready for the flight.

And finally, the almost impossible take off.

The Air New Zealand flight was a short distance ahead and it provided the Qantas aircraft with information from its own radar system throughout the journey. It travelled on the best weather path and the Qantas flight was able to follow behind. The aircraft was vertically separated according to operating procedure at all times - there was no danger to passengers.

The Sydney Morning Herald, however, disagrees: "The Herald understands that the two aircraft were separated by only a few thousand metres as weather updates were sent across to the Qantas plane, and that Qantas passengers could see the other jet through their windows." Knowing all the problems that Qantas have had lately and their fuzzy excuses, it won't surprise me. [SMH]

There've been 70 successful firings on the ground, and the laser should be enough to destroy "many" missiles depending on how fast the 747 can reach firing distance. The eventual goal is to have the laser planes—each worth a cool $1.5 billion—make up the US' laser plane fleet.

Political battles over the Airborne Laser [Crave via Sci Fi]

Touareg V10 TDI tows a 747 [Autoblog]

The Boeing 747, workhorse of the jumbo jet fleet since 1968, has undergone a radical redesign from Boeing, giving it these odd-looking bowed wings that add to its aerodynamic efficiency. The updated plane is dubbed the 747-8, represented here in these 3D renderings from Boeing.

The upturned wings resemble those of Boeing's upcoming 787 Dreamliner, a super-efficient design that's been exceeding the company's sales expectations thus far. The 747-8's new wings, along with quieter and cleaner-running jet engines, make it more environmentally friendly because it will burn a lot less fuel, with a corresponding reduction in exhaust. Expect the first freighter versions of this plane to be rolled out in 2009, with passenger versions to follow. – Charlie White

Boeing 747-8 makes the skies a bit more friendly [Sci Fi Tech]