While reading about the 747s that NASA uses to carry the shuttle space from Edwards AFB to Florida, I came across this little tidbit...
I thought it was also interesting that when carrying the shuttle, the plane's range is reduced to 1,000 nautical miles (1,850 km), compared to an unladen range of 5500 nautical miles (10,100 km). I read somewhere (can't recall where now) that the fuel consumption is about one gallon per 230 foot length of the plane.
The two aircraft are functionally identical, although N911NA has five upper-deck windows on each side, while N905NA only has two. On N905NA, the rear mounting point is labeled with a tongue-in-cheek instruction to "Attach Orbiter Here" - clarified by the precautionary note "Black Side Down"
I thought it was also interesting that when carrying the shuttle, the plane's range is reduced to 1,000 nautical miles (1,850 km), compared to an unladen range of 5500 nautical miles (10,100 km). I read somewhere (can't recall where now) that the fuel consumption is about one gallon per 230 foot length of the plane.
