Up and away
NASA used a Boeing 747 jet airliner, known as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), to lift Enterprise to altitudes ranging from 19,000 to 26,000 feet. A total of 13 aerial tests occurred from February to October 1977, with Enterprise staying mounted to the plane for eight of these flights (of these eight, five were performed without a crew and three with).
These modified 747s were subsequently used to transport operational Shuttles from landing sites (typically Edwards Air Force Base in California) to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first Approach and Landing Test, in which the Shuttle was set free, came on August 12, 1977 (pictured) at Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center in Southern California.
