Keefer Madness

Video of the Shuttle's Orbiter Piggybacking on a 747

// June 3rd, 2009 // Space Stuff & NASA, Video

It’s absolutely amazing to me that NASA was able to modify a 747 to allow the space shuttle’s orbiter to piggyback a ride home to Florida. It’s also unfathomable how inefficient and dangerous the whole thing is. The video’s description itself comments on how the flight is done only during daylight hours, in good weather and necessitates multiple stops to refuel. Plus, the thing gets a fighter plane escort. Just transporting the shuttle to the launch pad burns a ton of time, fuel and money. Every time the orbiter has to be flown home to the Space Coast, it’s insane how much more time, fuel and money is tacked onto a given mission’s completion.