Space Shuttle Landing

[Kerbface]

When I was younger I had a book that had some stuff about the space shuttle and it said that it needed a 747 to land, but I've also seen images of the shuttle landing itself. Why did it need this sometimes and not other times?

[stupid_chris]

The shuttle always landed on it's own? Well at least when coming back from interplanetary missions it did. You might have mistaken it for when they were moving the shuttle across the surface. Then they would attach it to the top of a 747 and move it from let's say, Cape Canaveral to Houston.

[Nibb31]

The Shuttles always landed on their own, except when they were being transported back to KSC on the back of one of the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. It certainly didn't need a 747 to land... How would they have done that anyway?

The 747 SCAs were used for ferrying flights and for the experimental drop tests with Enterprise in the late 70s.

Regarding the 747 SCA, I always loved the little joke that someone stuck onto it:

[Kerbface]

Ah, okay. Makes sense. I must be remembering what the book said wrong. I can't find it anywhere, must have thrown it out years ago. This was when I was somewhere between 5 and 10. And yeah, it doesn't really make much sense. Why even bother making it like a plane if it needs help landing. I guess I only didn't question it for a long time because I'd thought I'd known it since I was little. Just an incredible brain fail. Like that eating 8 spiders in your sleep a year thing, doesn't really make much sense when you think about it.

Edited July 4, 2013 by Kerbface

[stupid_chris]

Like that eating 8 spiders in your sleep a year thing, doesn't really make much sense when you think about it.

Yeah actually some people made somewhat of a study on this myth. Turns out it's false indeed, spiders are known to love warm and humid areas, and observations show that this number would be waayy too low.

[Kerbface]

Yeah actually some people made somewhat of a study on this myth. Turns out it's false indeed, spiders are known to love warm and humid areas, and observations show that this number would be waayy too low.

I'm guessing you're joking with the same thing as CGPgrey, right? Spiders, like most invertebrates, will usually do their best to avoid breathing things, because they tend to eat them.

[stupid_chris]

I'm guessing you're joking with the same thing as CGPgrey, right? Spiders, like most invertebrates, will usually do their best to avoid breathing things, because they tend to eat them.

I'm actually not, I don't remember precisely the source, but I'll try to find it tomorrow.

[Kerbface]

I'm actually not, I don't remember precisely the source, but I'll try to find it tomorrow.

I think you might find the source is actually CGPGrey, because that's exactly what he said, but on his followup video searching for the source he explained that it was a joke.

[stupid_chris]

I think you might find the source is actually CGPGrey, because that's exactly what he said, but on his followup video searching for the source he explained that it was a joke.

No I saw that video, it did give me a good laugh at the end, but it wasn't that. It was a bunch of people (biologists I think) that were interested in that myth and put together some sort of study to figure it out. The thing is that there's no official "paper" on it because it wasn't endorsed by a university or anything (because seriously what university would give funding for such a study), but I remember reading it. It's been a while though, 2 or three years, who knows where this might have sunk into the internets.

[Kerbface]

No I saw that video, it did give me a good laugh at the end, but it wasn't that. It was a bunch of people (biologists I think) that were interested in that myth and put together some sort of study to figure it out. The thing is that there's no official "paper" on it because it wasn't endorsed by a university or anything (because seriously what university would give funding for such a study), but I remember reading it. It's been a while though, 2 or three years, who knows where this might have sunk into the internets.

So how did they test it? Did they record high resolution video of hundreds of people's heads while asleep for years at a time and watched every video through to see how many times a spider crawled in?

[softweir]

To get back On Topic: Long before any shuttles were launched, NASA tested their flight and landing characteristics by launching Enterprise from the back of a 747. It may be that which the O.P. read about

[hugix]

Just imagine ,

The space shuttle comming in from outer space soaring towards the ground... BANG..BANG...

Just about a minute till touchdown, when WHOOSSJJ a 747 comes in underneath the shuttle, parks itself under the spacecraft, the shuttle now gently nudges down and mounts itself onto the mating adapters of the shuttle.. then 10 seconds later the landing gear of the 747 touches down.

I would sell my mother to see that!

[Budgie]

I think that the two craft would make a mid-air rendezvous and then the 747 would gently touch down, ensuring that the shuttle could re-enter anywhere, and still land at KSC

[Kerbface]

I had a dream last night where I was in a library and found the book I read this in in a donations bin.

I don't think it was actually the book I found it in because it was a big thickish black covered book all about spacecraft, and I never had one of those. Just in the dream I thought it was. Weird.

[Astrobug]

Just about a minute till touchdown, when WHOOSSJJ a 747 comes in underneath the shuttle, parks itself under the spacecraft, the shuttle now gently nudges down and mounts itself onto the mating adapters of the shuttle.. then 10 seconds later the landing gear of the 747 touches down.

Well, thanks for that. I guess I'll forgo sleep in favor in replicating this with clampotrons.