1.
Cargo aircraft
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A cargo aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted for the carriage of cargo rather than passengers. Such aircraft usually do not incorporate passenger amenities and generally one or more large doors for loading cargo. Freighters may be operated by passenger or cargo airlines, by private individuals or by the armed forces of individual countries. Cargo aircraft represent a small proportion of the air freight market. The majority is carried in special ULD containers in the holds of normal passenger aircraft. Aircraft were put to use carrying cargo in the form of air mail as early as 1911, although the earliest aircraft were not designed primarily as cargo carriers, by the mid-1920s aircraft manufacturers were designing and building dedicated cargo aircraft. The Vickers Vernon, a development of the Vickers Vimy Commercial, in February 1923 this was put to use by the RAFs Iraq Command who flew nearly 500 Sikh troops from Kingarban to Kirkuk in the first ever strategic airlift of troops. The Victorians also helped to pioneer air routes for Imperial Airways Handley Page HP.42 airliners, the World War II German design, the Arado Ar 232 was the first purpose built cargo aircraft. The Ar 232 was intended to supplant the earlier Junkers Ju 52 freighter conversions, most other forces used freighter versions of airliners in the cargo role as well, most notably the C-47 Skytrain version of the Douglas DC-3, which served with practically every Allied nation. This aircraft, like most of its era, used tail-dragger landing gear caused the aircraft to have a decided rearward tilt when landed. A similar rear loading ramp even appeared in a different form on the nosewheel gear-equipped. Postwar Europe also served to play a role in the development of the modern air cargo. To rapidly supply the numbers of aircraft, many older types. In operation it was found that it took as long or longer to unload these older designs as the much larger tricycle landing gear Douglas C-54 Skymaster which was easier to move about in when landed. The C-47s were quickly removed from service, and from then on flat-decks were a requirement of all new cargo designs, in the years following the war era a number of new custom-built cargo aircraft were introduced, often including some experimental features. For instance, the USs C-82 Packet featured a cargo area. Although larger, smaller and faster designs have been proposed for many years and these designs offer the ability to carry the heaviest loads, even main battle tanks, at global ranges. The Boeing 747 was originally designed to the specification as the C-5
2.
Boeing
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The Boeing Company is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, and satellites worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support services, Boeing stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Boeing Companys corporate headquarters are located in Chicago and the company is led by President, Boeing is organized into five primary divisions, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Defense, Space & Security, Engineering, Operations & Technology, Boeing Capital, and Boeing Shared Services Group. Boeing bought Heaths shipyard in Seattle on the Duwamish River, which became his first airplane factory. Boeing was incorporated in Seattle by William Boeing, on July 15,1916, Boeing was later incorporated in Delaware, the original Certificate of Incorporation was filed with the Secretary of State of Delaware on July 19,1934. Boeing, who studied at Yale University, worked initially in the timber industry and this knowledge proved invaluable in his subsequent design and assembly of airplanes. The company stayed in Seattle to take advantage of the supply of spruce wood. William Boeing founded his company a few months after the June 15 maiden flight of one of the two B&W seaplanes built with the assistance of George Conrad Westervelt, a U. S. Navy engineer. Boeing and Westervelt decided to build the B&W seaplane after having flown in a Curtiss aircraft, Boeing bought a Glenn Martin Flying Birdcage seaplane and was taught to fly by Glenn Martin himself. Boeing soon crashed the Birdcage and when Martin informed Boeing that replacement parts would not become available for months, Westervelt agreed to build a better airplane and soon produced the B&W Seaplane. This first Boeing airplane was assembled in a hangar located on the northeast shore of Seattles Lake Union. Many of Boeings early planes were seaplanes, on April 6,1917, the U. S. declared War on Germany and later in the year entered World War I. On May 9,1917, the became the Boeing Airplane Company. With the U. S. entering the war, Boeing knew that the U. S. Navy needed seaplanes for training, so Boeing shipped two new Model Cs to Pensacola, Florida, where the planes were flown for the Navy. The Navy liked the Model C and ordered 50 more, the company moved its operations to a larger former shipbuilding facility known as Boeing Plant 1, located on the lower Duwamish River, Washington state. Others, including Boeing, started selling other products, Boeing built dressers, counters, and furniture, along with flat-bottom boats called Sea Sleds. In 1919 the Boeing B-1, flying boat made its first flight and it accommodated one pilot and two passengers and some mail. Over the course of eight years, it made international airmail flights from Seattle to Victoria, on May 24,1920, the Boeing Model 8 made its first flight
3.
NASA
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
4.
Boeing 747
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The Boeing 747 is an American wide-body commercial jet airliner and cargo aircraft, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet. Its distinctive hump upper deck along the part of the aircraft makes it among the worlds most recognizable aircraft. First flown commercially in 1970, the 747 held the passenger capacity record for 37 years, as of January 2017, the 747 has been involved in 60 hull losses, resulting in 3722 fatalities. The four-engine 747 uses a configuration for part of its length. It is available in passenger, freighter and other versions, the 747 was expected to become obsolete after 400 were sold, but it exceeded critics expectations with production passing the 1,000 mark in 1993. By February 2017,1,528 aircraft had been built, the 747-400, the most common passenger version in service, has a high-subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0. 85–0.855 with an intercontinental range of 7,260 nautical miles. The newest version of the aircraft, the 747-8, is in production, deliveries of the 747-8F freighter version began in October 2011, deliveries of the 747-8I passenger version began in May 2012. In 1963, the United States Air Force started a series of projects on a very large strategic transport aircraft. The payload bay had to be 17 feet wide by 13.5 feet high and 100 feet long with access doors at the front. Featuring only four engines, the design required new engine designs with greatly increased power and better fuel economy. After a downselect, Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed were given study contracts for the airframe, along with General Electric. All three of the airframe proposals shared a number of features, as the CX-HLS needed to be able to be loaded from the front, a door had to be included where the cockpit usually was. In 1965 Lockheeds aircraft design and General Electrics engine design were selected for the new C-5 Galaxy transport, the nose door and raised cockpit concepts would be carried over to the design of the 747. The 747 was conceived while air travel was increasing in the 1960s, the era of commercial jet transportation, led by the enormous popularity of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, had revolutionized long-distance travel. In 1965, Joe Sutter was transferred from Boeings 737 development team to manage the design studies for a new airliner, Sutter initiated a design study with Pan Am and other airlines, to better understand their requirements. At the time, it was thought that the 747 would eventually be superseded by supersonic transport aircraft. Boeing responded by designing the 747 so that it could be adapted easily to carry freight, in the freighter role, the clear need was to support the containerized shipping methodologies that were being widely introduced at about the same time. Standard containers are 8 ft square at the front and available in 20 and 40 ft lengths and this meant that it would be possible to support a 2-wide 2-high stack of containers two or three ranks deep with a fuselage size similar to the earlier CX-HLS project
5.
Space Shuttle orbiter
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The Space Shuttle orbiter was the reusable spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle program. Six orbiters were built for flight, Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, all were built in Palmdale, California, by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Rockwell International company. The first orbiter, Enterprise, made its flight in 1977. An unpowered glider, it was carried by a modified Boeing 747 airliner called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and released for a series of atmospheric test flights, Enterprise was partially disassembled and retired after completion of critical testing. The remaining orbiters were fully operational spacecraft, and were launched vertically as part of the Space Shuttle stack, Columbia was the first space-worthy orbiter, and made its inaugural flight in 1981. Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis followed in 1983,1984 and 1985 respectively, in 1986, Challenger was destroyed in an accident shortly after launch. Endeavour was built as Challengers replacement, and was first launched in 1992, in 2003, Columbia was destroyed during re-entry, leaving just three remaining orbiters. Discovery completed its flight on March 9,2011. Atlantis completed the last ever Shuttle flight, STS-135, on July 21,2011, additionally, two reusable solid rocket boosters provided additional thrust for approximately the first two minutes of launch. The orbiters themselves did carry hypergolic propellants for their RCS thrusters, the vertical stabilizer of the orbiter had a leading edge that was swept back at a 45-degree angle. There were four elevons mounted at the edges of the delta wings. These, along with a movable body flap located underneath the main engines, controlled the orbiter during later stages of descent through the atmosphere, overall, the Space Shuttle orbiter was roughly the same size as a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 airliner. This control system carried out the usual attitude control along the pitch, roll, and yaw axes during all of the phases of launching, orbiting. This system also executed any needed orbital maneuvers, including all changes in the altitude, orbital plane. These were all operations that required a lot more power and energy than mere attitude control, the forward rockets of the Reaction Control System, located near the nose of the Space Shuttle orbiter, included 14 primary and two vernier RCS rockets. The aft RCS engines were located in the two Orbital Maneuvering System pods at the rear of the orbiter, and these included 12 primary and two vernier engines in each pod. The RCS also controlled the attitude of the orbiter during most of its re-entry into the Earths atmosphere – until the air became dense enough that the rudder, elevons and body flap became effective. During the early process of the orbiter, the forward RCS thrusters were to be hidden underneath retractable doors
6.
Shuttle Landing Facility
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The Shuttle Landing Facility is an airport located on Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, USA. It is a part of the John F, starting in 2015, Space Florida manages and operates the facility under a 30-year lease from NASA. Private companies have been utilizing the SLF for its properties since 2011. The Shuttle Landing Facility covers 500 acres and has a single runway and it is one of the longest runways in the world, at 4,572 m, and is 91.4 meters wide. Additionally, the SLF has 305 meters of paved overruns at each end, the Mate-Demate Device, for use when the shuttle was transported by the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, was located just off the runway. The runway is designated runway 15, or 33, depending on the direction of use and it uses a grooved design to provide drainage and further increase the coefficient of friction. The original groove design was found to provide too much friction for the rubber used in the Shuttles tires. This issue was resolved by grinding down the pavement, reducing the depth of the grooves significantly, a local nickname for the runway is the gator tanning facility, as some of the 4,000 alligators living at Kennedy Space Center regularly bask in the sun on the runway. The landing facility is managed by contractor EG&G, which air traffic control services, as well as managing potential hazards to landing aircraft. Columbia was the first shuttle to arrive at the SLF via the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft on March 24,1979, the runway was first used by a space shuttle on 11 February 1984, when the STS-41-B mission returned to Earth. This also marked the landing of a spacecraft at its launch site. On September 22,1993, Discovery was the first space shuttle to land at night at the SLF, a total of 78 shuttle missions landed at the SLF. The final landing of a space shuttle occurred on July 21,2011 by the Atlantis for STS-135, Discovery and Endeavour took off from the SLF on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for museums in Washington, D. C. and Los Angeles. In 2012, NASAs Johnson Space Centers Project Morpheuss first vehicle arrived at KSC, prior to arrival at KSC and throughout the project, Morpheus vehicle tests were performed at other NASA centers, KSC was the site for advanced testing. Multiple tests, including flight, were performed at the SLF in 2013-2014. Multiple vehicles and iterations of the vehicles were tested, due to upgrades and damages during this experimental test program, during the August 9,2012 test at the SLF, a vehicle exploded, no one was injured. The SLF has also used by commercial users. NASCAR teams have used the facility for vehicle testing
7.
Kennedy Space Center
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The John F. Kennedy Space Center is one of ten National Aeronautics and Space Administration field centers. Since December 1968, Kennedy Space Center has been NASAs primary launch center of human spaceflight, Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources, and even own facilities on each others property. Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial missions, researches food production and In-Situ Resource Utilization for off Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, there are about 700 facilities grouped across the centers 144,000 acres. There is also a Visitor Complex open to the public on site, the military had been performing launch operations since 1949 at what would become Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel, President John F. Kennedys 1961 goal of a manned lunar landing before 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1,1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center, therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island. NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles, the major buildings in KSCs Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, on November 29,1963, the facility was given its current name by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnsons order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station under the designation John F. Kennedy Space Center, spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean and it is 34 miles long and roughly six miles wide, covering 219 square miles. KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is one hours drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center, Center workers can encounter bald eagles, American alligators, wild boars, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, the endangered Florida panther and Florida manatees. From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches, the first of two unmanned flights, Apollo 4 on November 9,1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC. The Saturn Vs first manned launch on December 21,1968 was Apollo 8s lunar orbiting mission, the next two missions tested the Lunar Module, Apollo 9 and Apollo 10. Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16,1969, Apollo 12 followed four months later. From 1970–1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17, on May 14,1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A
8.
Mate-Demate Device
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A Mate-Demate Device is a specialized crane designed to lift a Space Shuttle orbiter onto and off the back of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The first MDD was located at NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, California 34. 958559°N117. 883818°W /34.958559, construction of the MDD was completed in late 1976. It was first used during operations with the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise during the five Approach. It was then used for post-landing and Shuttle Carrier Aircraft mating operations at NASA Armstrong following shuttle orbital missions that landed at Edwards, fifty-four of the 135 shuttle missions landed at Edwards between STS-1 in 1981 through STS-128 in 2009. All but one of these flights landed at Kennedy Space Center instead and this MDD was used to hoist a Space Shuttle orbiter onto a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the flight back to Florida. The MDD was dismantled in 2014 following the retirement of Space Shuttle, the second MDD was located at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida 28. 600666°N80. 679262°W /28.600666, -80.679262. Its primary use was unloading the orbiter after its flight from Edwards. The third MDD was built for the planned Space Shuttle operations at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and this structure was demolished in 2008. On the rare occasions when an orbiter needed to be loaded or unloaded at a location where no MDD was available, prior to its use in 2012 to exchange Discovery and Enterprise, the mobile MDD had been stored for over twenty years. For the Energia-Buran programme there was built similar structures in USSR, named PKU-50, for the time of the Buran first flight they were operated at LII, Baikonur Jubilee airfield and Bezymyanka airport. They were capable of loading Buran or Energia components on top of Myasishchev VM-T and Antonov An-225 aircraft
9.
Gantry crane
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Gantry cranes are a type of crane built atop a gantry, which is a structure used to straddle an object or workspace. Gantry cranes for marine application are imposing, multi-story structures prominent at most container terminals, used to load intermodal containers on and they are also called portal cranes, the portal being the empty space straddled by the gantry. The terms gantry crane and overhead crane are used interchangeably. The usual distinction drawn between the two is that with gantry cranes, the structure is usually wheeled. They operate along two rails spaced based on the size of crane to be used, ship-to-Shore Crane Elements Lateral movement system, A combination of two sets of typically ten rail wheels. The lateral movement is controlled by a cabin along the landside wheel, during any lateral movement, lights and sirens operate to ensure safety of the crew operating adjacent to the crane. The wheels are mounted to the bottom of the vertical frame/bracing system, vertical frame and braces, A structurally designed system of beams assembled to support the boom, cabin, operating machinery, and the cargo being lifted. They display signage describing restrictions, requirements and identifiers, Crane boom, A horizontal beam that runs transversely to the berth. It spans from landside of the rail wheels to a length over the edge of the berth. The waterside span is based on the size of ship that it can successfully load/unload, beams also have the ability to be raised for storage purposes. Hook, Device which moves vertically to raise and lower cargo as well as horizontally along the booms length, for container cranes, a spreader is attached to span the container and lock it safely in place during movement. Operating cabin, Encased setup with glass paneled flooring for operator to view the cargo being moved, elevators which are located along vertical frame members are used to get crew up and down from the cabin. Storage Equipment, For temporary storage options between vessel operations, one pin is inserted into anchorage arm dropped from each wheel set into a stow pin assembly. This setup is designed to prevent lateral movement along the rails, during hurricanes and other emergency shut down situations, tie down assemblies are used. Two angled arms are anchored at each end of set of wheels. This setup prevents longitudinal movement along the rails as well as prevents tipping of the due to uplift from high velocity winds. Ship-to-shore gantry cranes are used in pairs or teams of cranes in order to minimize the time required to load and unload vessels. One example are systems where specialized berths built that accommodate one vessel at a time with ship-to-shore gantry cranes on both sides of the vessel and this allows for more cranes and double the workspace under the cranes to be used for transporting cargo off dock
10.
Space Shuttle Enterprise
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Space Shuttle Enterprise was the first orbiter of the Space Shuttle system. Rolled out on September 17,1976, it was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform atmospheric test flights after being launched from a modified Boeing 747. It was constructed without engines or a heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight. Originally, Enterprise had been intended to be refitted for orbital flight to become the second space-rated orbiter in service, similarly, Enterprise was considered for refit to replace Challenger after the latter was destroyed, but Endeavour was built from structural spares instead. Enterprise was restored and placed on display in 2003 at the Smithsonians new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. The design of Enterprise was not the same as that planned for Columbia, the first flight model, the aft fuselage was constructed differently, instead of a thermal protection system, its surface was primarily covered with simulated tiles made from polyurethane foam. Fiberglass was used for the edge panels in place of the reinforced carbon–carbon ones of spaceflight-worthy orbiters. Only a few sample thermal tiles and some Nomex blankets were real, Enterprise used fuel cells to generate its electrical power, but these were not sufficient to power the orbiter for spaceflight. Enterprise was equipped with Lockheed-manufactured zero-zero ejection seats like those its sister Columbia carried on its first four missions, construction began on Enterprise on June 4,1974. Designated OV-101, it was planned to be named Constitution and unveiled on Constitution Day. Fans of Star Trek asked US President Gerald Ford, through a campaign, to name the orbiter after the television shows fictional starship. White House advisors cited hundreds of thousands of letters from Trekkies—one of the most dedicated constituencies in the country—as a reason for giving the shuttle the name. Although Ford did not publicly mention the campaign, the president said that he was partial to the name Enterprise, in mid-1976 the orbiter was used for ground vibration tests, allowing engineers to compare data from an actual flight vehicle with theoretical models. On September 17,1976, Enterprise was rolled out of Rockwells plant at Palmdale, in recognition of its fictional namesake, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and most of the principal cast of the original series of Star Trek were on hand at the dedication ceremony. On January 31,1977, Enterprise was taken by road to Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base to begin operational testing, while at NASA Dryden Enterprise was used by NASA for a variety of ground and flight tests intended to validate aspects of the shuttle program. The initial nine-month testing period was referred to by the acronym ALT, for Approach and these tests included a maiden flight on February 18,1977, atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to measure structural loads and ground handling and braking characteristics of the mated system. Ground tests of all orbiter subsystems were carried out to verify functionality prior to atmospheric flight, the mated Enterprise/SCA combination was then subjected to five test flights with Enterprise unmanned and unactivated. The purpose of these test flights was to measure the characteristics of the mated combination
11.
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy
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The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft originally designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force with a heavy strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsize and oversize loads. The Galaxy has many similarities to its smaller Lockheed C-141 Starlifter predecessor, the C-5 is among the largest military aircraft in the world. The C-5 Galaxys development was complicated, including significant cost overruns, shortly after entering service, cracks in the wings of many aircraft were discovered and the C-5 fleet was restricted in capability until corrective work was completed. The C-5M Super Galaxy is a version with new engines. The USAF has operated the C-5 since 1969, the Galaxy has also been used to distribute humanitarian aid and disaster relief, and supported the US Space Shuttle program. In 1961, several companies began studying heavy jet transport designs that would replace the Douglas C-133 Cargomaster. These studies led to the CX-4 design concept, but in 1962 the proposed design was rejected. By late 1963, the conceptual design was named CX-X. It was equipped with four engines, instead of six engines in the earlier CX-4 concept, the CX-X had a gross weight of 550,000 pounds, a maximum payload of 180,000 lb and a speed of Mach 0.75. The cargo compartment was 17.2 ft wide by 13.5 feet high and 100 ft long with front, to meet the power and range specifications with only four engines required a new engine with dramatically improved fuel efficiency. The criteria were finalized and an official request for proposal was issued in April 1964 for the Heavy Logistics System, in May 1964, proposals for aircraft were received from Boeing, Douglas, General Dynamics, Lockheed, and Martin Marietta. General Electric, Curtiss-Wright, and Pratt & Whitney submitted proposals for the engines, after a downselect, Boeing, Douglas and Lockheed were given one-year study contracts for the airframe, along with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for the engines. All three of the designs shared a number of features, the cockpit was placed well above the cargo area to allow for cargo loading through a nose door. All of the designs had swept wings, as well as front, Lockheeds design featured a T-tail, while the designs by Boeing and Douglas had conventional tails. The Air Force considered Boeings design to be better than that of Lockheed, Lockheed was selected the winner in September 1965, then awarded a contract in December 1965. General Electrics TF39 engine was selected in August 1965 to power the new transport plane, the first C-5A Galaxy was rolled out of the manufacturing plant in Marietta, Georgia, on 2 March 1968. On 30 June 1968, flight testing of the C-5A began with the first flight, flown by Leo Sullivan, flight tests revealed that the aircraft exhibited a higher drag divergence Mach number than predicted by wind tunnel data
12.
United States Air Force
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The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U. S. military to be formed, the U. S. Air Force is a military service organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for surface forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2015, the service more than 5,137 military aircraft,406 ICBMs and 63 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget with 313,242 active duty personnel,141,197 civilian employees,69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,500 Air National Guard personnel. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF and it shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The stated mission of the USAF today is to fly, fight, and win in air, space and we will provide compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance, Reach and it should be emphasized that the core functions, by themselves, are not doctrinal constructs. The purpose of Nuclear Deterrence Operations is to operate, maintain, in the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD, and the means to deliver them, moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. Nuclear strike is the ability of forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level, post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations, the Air Force, in conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements, adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Forces ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission, positive nuclear command, control, communications, effective nuclear weapons security, and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. OCA is the method of countering air and missile threats, since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source
13.
American Airlines
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American Airlines, Inc. commonly referred to as American, is a major American airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is the worlds largest airline measured by fleet size, revenue, scheduled passenger-kilometres flown. Regional service is operated by independent and subsidiary carriers under the name of American Eagle. American operates out of ten located in Dallas/Fort Worth, Charlotte, Chicago-OHare, Philadelphia, Miami, Phoenix, Washington, DC-National, Los Angeles, New York-JFK. American operates its primary base at Tulsa International Airport in addition to the maintenance locations located at its hubs. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is Americans largest passenger carrying hub handling 51.1 million passengers annually with an average of 140,000 passengers daily, the company as of 2015 employs over 113,300 people. Through the airlines parent company, American Airlines Group, it is traded under NASDAQ. American Airlines was started in 1930 via a union of more than eighty small airlines, the two organizations from which American Airlines was originated were Robertson Aircraft Corporation and Colonial Air Transport. The former was first formed in Missouri in 1921, with both being merged in 1929 into holding company The Aviation Corporation and this in turn, was made in 1930 into an operating company and rebranded as American Airways. In 1934, when new laws and attrition of mail contracts forced many airlines to reorganize, the corporation redid its routes into a connected system, between 1970 and 2000, the company grew into being an international carrier, purchasing Trans World Airlines in 2001. In 2011, due to a downturn in the airline industry, in 2013, US Airways and American Airlines merged. Eventually operations were merged under one operating certificate to create the largest United States airline which kept the American Airlines brand name, American Airlines is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, adjacent to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The headquarters is located in two buildings in the CentrePort office complex and these buildings together have about 1,400,000 square feet of space. As of 2014 over 4,300 employees work at this complex, before it was headquartered in Texas, American Airlines was headquartered at 633 Third Avenue in the Murray Hill area of Midtown Manhattan, New York City. In 1979 American moved its headquarters to a site at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Mayor of New York City Ed Koch described the move as a betrayal of New York City. American moved to two leased office buildings in Grand Prairie, Texas, the airline began leasing the facility from the airport, which owns the facility. As of 2015 American Airlines is the corporation with the largest presence in Fort Worth, in 2015 the airline announced it will build a new headquarters in Fort Worth. Groundbreaking began in the spring of 2016 and occupancy is scheduled for summer 2019, the airline plans to house 5,000 new workers in the building
14.
Aircraft livery
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An aircraft livery is a set of comprehensive insignia comprising colour, graphic, and typographical identifiers which operators apply to their aircraft. They have provided an arena for the work of distinguished designers and eminent lay people like Raymond Loewy, Alexander Girard, the term is an adaptation of the word livery, the uniform-style clothing worn by servants of wealthy families and government representatives until the early/mid-20th Century. With the advent of stagecoaches, railway trains, and steamships, since the 1950s and 60s, aircraft liveries have usually been uniform livery across an entire fleet. One-off custom-designs might be applied from time to time to individual members to highlight set occasions. Livery application involves multiple layers of specialised paint, with decals and/or stickers used for geometrically challenging elements such as titles, airline liveries involve set individual elements. The airlines title is set in a specific style. This is closely defined by typographical designers as a logotype, the specification covers, typeface, type size, type case, cut, weight, proportion. Size varies according to member, the larger the aircraft. Since type is designed to be read from a flat surface. The specifications result in a logotype, a cliche of type whose characteristics remain unchanged, the airlines monogram or emblem is defined in terms of geometry by graphic designers. The resulting specification is called a logo, logos are also modified to fit curved surfaces and appear identical from diverse viewing angles. The colour or colours are specified in terms of colour matching, the resulting specification is called a colourway. Uniform liveries became genrally adopted by the 1950s and 60s, before then, individual airlines, notably Aeroflot and some US carriers like Delta Air Lines, used custom liveries designed for each individual aircraft type they operated. Aeroflot abandoned the practice as late as 1974, adopting a uniform livery across its fleet, as corrosion and paint research advanced and airliner lives lengthened, airframers began applying advanced primers and treatments to airliners during manufacture. Many airframers insisted on overall corrosion protection remaining in place throughout an airliners service life and this made bare metal liveries problematic, they began giving way to painted exteriors by the mid-1960s. To ensure longevity, bare metal liveries involved intensive polishing and waxing during manufacture, nevertheless, the bare metal era survived into the 21st Century and the advent of plastic composite airliners like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 XWB. The most notable proponent of the bare metal look, American Airlines. Cargo carriers like Cargolux, Flying Tigers, JAL Japan Airlines Cargo, Korean Air Cargo, counterclaims stated that extra maintenance costs cancel this benefit
15.
Armstrong Flight Research Center
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The Armstrong Flight Research Center, located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. It was originally named in honor of Hugh L, first known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Muroc Flight Test Unit, the DFRC has also been known as the High-Speed Flight Research Station and the High-Speed Flight Station. The facility was renamed, effective March 1,2014, the Armstrong Flight Research Center in honor of Neil Armstrong, similarly the Western Aeronautical Test Range at the facility was renamed the NASA Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range. The facility is NASAs premier site for research and operates some of the most advanced aircraft in the world. It was also the home of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747 designed to carry a Space Shuttle orbiter back to Kennedy Space Center if one landed at Edwards, david McBride is currently the centers director. He succeeded Kevin Petersen, who retired in April 2008, until 2004, Armstrong Flight Research Center operated the oldest B-52 Stratofortress bomber, a B-52B model which had been converted to drop test aircraft, dubbed Balls 8. It dropped a number of supersonic test vehicles, ranging from the X-15 to its last research program. The aircraft was retired and is currently on display near the North Gate of Edwards, NASAs predecessor, NACA, operated the Douglas Skyrocket. A successor to the Air Forces Bell X-1, the D-558-II could operate under rocket or jet power and it conducted extensive tests into aircraft stability in the transsonic range, optimal supersonic wing configurations, rocket plume effects, and high-speed flight dynamics. On November 20,1953, the Douglas Skyrocket became the first aircraft to fly at twice the speed of sound when it attained a speed of Mach 2.005. Like the X-1, the D-558-II could be air-launched using a B-29 Superfortress, unlike the X-1, the Skyrocket could also takeoff from a runway with the help of JATO units. On December 1,1984, a remotely piloted Boeing 720 aircraft was flown into specially built wing openers which tore the wings open, despite the new fuel additive, the resulting fire ball was huge, the fire still took an hour to fully extinguish. Even though the fuel additive did not prevent a fire, the research was not a complete failure. The additive still prevented the combustion of fuel which flowed over the fuselage of the aircraft. Also, instrumented crash test dummies were in the airplane for the impact, LASRE was a NASA experiment in cooperation with Lockheed Martin to study a reusable launch vehicle design based on a linear aerospike rocket engine. The experiments goal was to provide data to help Lockheed Martin validate the computational predictive tools they developed to design the craft. LASRE was a small, half-span model of a body with eight thrust cells of an aerospike engine. The experiment, mounted on the back of an SR-71 Blackbird aircraft, the interaction of the aerodynamic flow with the engine plume could create drag, design refinements look to minimize that interaction
16.
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
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The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is a single-engine, supersonic interceptor aircraft which later became widely used as an attack aircraft. It was originally developed by Lockheed for the United States Air Force, but became used by US Allies around the world. One of the Century Series of fighter aircraft, it was operated by the air forces of more than a dozen nations from 1958 to 2004. Its design team was led by Kelly Johnson, who went on to lead or contribute to the development of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the F-104 set numerous world records, including both airspeed and altitude records. The poor safety record of the Starfighter also brought the aircraft into the public eye, Fighter ace Erich Hartmann was forced to retire from the Luftwaffe due to his outspoken opposition to selection of the F-104. The ultimate production version of the model was the F-104S, an all-weather interceptor designed by Aeritalia for the Italian Air Force. An advanced F-104 with a wing, known as the CL-1200 Lancer, was considered. In 2018 a privately owned Starfighter is scheduled to launch a group of small cubesat satellites into low orbit by carrying the rocket aloft. Clarence Kelly Johnson, the engineer at Lockheeds Skunk Works, visited Korea in December 1951. At the time, the U. S. pilots were confronting the MiG-15 with North American F-86 Sabres, the pilots requested a small and simple aircraft with excellent performance. Armed with this information, Johnson immediately started the design of such an aircraft on his return to the United States. In March, his team was assembled, they studied several designs, ranging from small designs at 8,000 lb. The engine chosen was the new General Electric J79, an engine of dramatically improved performance in comparison with contemporary designs, the small L-246 design powered by a single J79 remained essentially identical to the L-083 Starfighter as eventually delivered. The design was presented to the Air Force in November 1952, although all were interesting, Lockheed had an insurmountable lead, and was granted a development contract in March 1953 for two prototypes, these were given the designation XF-104. Work progressed quickly, with a ready for inspection at the end of April. Meanwhile, the J79 engine was not ready, both prototypes were designed to use the Wright J65 engine, a licensed-built version of the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire. The first prototype was completed by early 1954 and first flew on 4 March at Edwards AFB, the total time from contract to first flight was less than a year. When the USAF revealed the existence of the XF-104, they gave a vague description of it
17.
Avionics
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Avionics are the electronic systems used on aircraft, artificial satellites, and spacecraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of systems. These can be as simple as a searchlight for a helicopter or as complicated as the tactical system for an airborne early warning platform. The term avionics is a portmanteau of the aviation and electronics. The term avionics was coined by the journalist Philip J. Klass as a portmanteau of aviation electronics, many modern avionics have their origins in World War II wartime developments. For example, autopilot systems that are today were started to help bomber planes fly steadily enough to hit precision targets from high altitudes. Famously, radar was developed in the UK, Germany, modern avionics is a substantial portion of military aircraft spending. Aircraft like the F‑15E and the now retired F‑14 have roughly 20 percent of their budget spent on avionics, most modern helicopters now have budget splits of 60/40 in favour of avionics. The civilian market has seen a growth in cost of avionics. Flight control systems and new navigation needs brought on by tighter airspaces, have pushed up development costs, the major change has been the recent boom in consumer flying. As more people begin to use planes as their method of transportation. The majority of power their avionics using 14- or 28‑volt DC electrical systems, however, larger. One source of international standards for equipment are prepared by the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee. Communications connect the deck to the ground and the flight deck to the passengers. On‑board communications are provided by systems and aircraft intercoms. The VHF aviation communication system works on the airband of 118.000 MHz to 136.975 MHz, each channel is spaced from the adjacent ones by 8.33 kHz in Europe,25 kHz elsewhere. VHF is also used for line of communication such as aircraft-to-aircraft. Amplitude modulation is used, and the conversation is performed in simplex mode, aircraft communication can also take place using HF or satellite communication
18.
Ballast
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Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, a compartment within a boat, ship, submarine, or other floating structure that holds water is called a ballast tank. Water should move in and out from the ballast tank to balance the ship, in a vessel that travels on the water, the ballast will remain below the water level, to counteract the effects of weight above the water level. The ballast may be redistributed in the vessel or disposed of altogether to change its effects on the movement of the vessel. The basic concept behind the ballast tank can be seen in forms of aquatic life. The concept has been invented and reinvented many times by humans to serve a variety of purposes, the simplest form of ballast used in small day sailers is so-called live ballast, or the weight of the crew. By sitting on the side of the hull, the heeling moment must lift the weight of the crew. On larger modern vessels, the keel is made of or filled with a high density material, such as concrete, iron, by placing the weight as low as possible the maximum righting moment can be extracted from the given mass. Traditional forms of ballast carried inside the hull were stones or sand, sailing ballast is used in sailboats to provide moment to resist the lateral forces on the sail. Insufficiently ballasted boats will tend to tip, or heel, excessively in high winds, too much heel may result in the boat capsizing. If a sailing vessel should need to voyage without cargo then ballast of little or no value would be loaded to keep the vessel upright, some or all of this ballast would then be discarded when cargo was loaded. Ballast weight is added to a race car to alter its performance. In most racing series, cars have a minimum allowable weight, often, the actual weight of the car is lower, so ballast is used to bring it up to the minimum. The advantage is that the ballast can be positioned to affect the handling by changing its load distribution. This is near-universal in Formula 1 and it is also common in other racing series that ballast may only be located in certain positions on the car. In some racing series, for example the British Touring Car Championship, ballast is used as a handicap, ballast may also be carried aboard an aircraft. For example, in gliding it may be used to increase speed and/or adjust the aircrafts center of gravity, if a cargo vessel wishes to travel empty or partially empty to collect a cargo, it must travel in ballast. This keeps the vessel in trim, and keeps the propeller and rudder submerged, typically, being in ballast will mean flooding the ballast tanks with sea water
19.
Space Shuttle Columbia
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Space Shuttle Columbia was the first space-rated orbiter in NASAs Space Shuttle fleet. It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12,1981, construction began on Columbia in 1975 at Rockwell Internationals principal assembly facility in Palmdale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is also named after the Command Module of Apollo 11, Columbia was also the female symbol of the United States. After construction, the arrived at Kennedy Space Center on March 25,1979. Columbia was originally scheduled to lift off in late 1979, however the date was delayed by problems with both the SSME components, as well as the thermal protection system. On March 19,1981, during preparations for a ground test, workers were asphyxiated while working in Columbias nitrogen-purged aft engine compartment, resulting in two or three fatalities. Columbia spent 610 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility, another 35 days in the Vehicle Assembly Building, Columbia then undertook three further research missions to test its technical characteristics and performance. Its first operational mission, with a crew, was STS-5. At this point Columbia was joined by Challenger, which flew the next three missions, while Columbia underwent modifications for the first Spacelab mission. At that time the fleet was expanded to include Discovery. Columbia returned to space on January 12,1986, with the launch of STS-61-C, the missions crew included Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz, as well as the first sitting member of the House of Representatives to venture into space, Bill Nelson. The next shuttle mission, STS-51-L, was undertaken by Challenger and it was launched on January 28,1986, ten days after STS-61-C had landed, and ended in disaster 73 seconds after launch. In the aftermath NASAs shuttle timetable was disrupted, and Columbia was not flown again until 1989, sTS-93, launched on July 23,1999, was the first U. S. space mission with a female commander, Lt. Col. Eileen Collins. This mission deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Columbias final successful mission was STS-109, the fourth servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope. Its next mission, STS-107, culminated in the loss when it disintegrated during reentry. Consequently, President Bush decided to retire the Shuttle orbiter fleet by 2010 in favor of the Constellation program, the Constellation program was later cancelled with the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 signed by President Obama on October 11. Due to its weight, Columbia could not have used the planned Centaur-G booster, the retention of the internal airlock allowed NASA to use Columbia for the STS-109 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, along with the Spacehab double module used on STS-107. The upgrade also involved replacing many of the white LRSI tiles on the surfaces with Advanced Flexible Reusable Surface Insulation blankets that had been used on Discovery
20.
Vehicle Assembly Building
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The Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASAs Kennedy Space Center is a building designed to assemble large space vehicles, such as the massive Saturn V and the Space Shuttle. The future Space Launch System will also be assembled there, at 3,664,883 cubic meters it is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume. The building is at Launch Complex 39 at KSC, halfway between Jacksonville and Miami, and due east of Orlando on Merritt Island on the Atlantic coast of Florida. The VAB is the largest single-story building in the world, was the tallest building in Florida until 1974, and is still the tallest building in the United States outside an urban area. The VAB, which was completed in 1966, was built to allow for the vertical assembly of the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo program. Once assembled, the complete Space Shuttle was moved on the Mobile Launcher Platform, the VAB is 526 feet tall,716 feet long and 518 feet wide. It covers 8 acres, and encloses 129,428,000 cubic feet of space, despite this, it has received damage from several hurricanes There are four entries to the bays located inside the building, which are the four largest doors in the world. Each door is 456 feet high, has 7 vertical panels and 4 horizontal panels, the north entry that leads to the transfer aisle was widened by 40 feet to allow entry of the shuttle orbiter. A central slot at the entry allowed for passage of the orbiters vertical stabilizer. To lift the components of the Space Transportation System, the VAB housed five overhead bridge cranes, the building has at least 10,000 tons of air conditioning equipment, including 125 ventilators on the roof supported by four large air handlers to keep moisture under control. Air in the building can be replaced every hour. It is 209 feet high, and 110 feet wide, each of the stars on the flag is 6 feet across, the blue field is the size of a regulation basketball court, and each of the stripes is 9 feet wide. Work began in early 2007 to restore the paint on the immense facility. Special attention was paid to the enormous American flag and NASA meatball insignia, the work repaired visible damage from years of storms and weathering. The flag and logo had been repainted in 1998 for NASAs 40th anniversary. Twenty five additional panels were blown off the east side by the winds from Hurricane Jeanne just three weeks later, earlier in the season, Hurricane Charley caused significant but less serious damage, estimated to cost $700,000. Damage caused by hurricanes was still visible in 2007. Some of these panels are punch-outs, designed to detach from the VAB when a pressure differential is created on the outside vs. the inside
21.
Aerial refueling
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The procedure allows the receiving aircraft to remain airborne longer, extending its range or loiter time on station. A series of air refuelings can give range limited only by crew fatigue, alternatively, a shorter take-off roll can be achieved because take-off can be at a lighter weight before refueling once airborne. Aerial refueling has also considered as a means to reduce fuel consumption on long-distance flights greater than 3,000 nautical miles. Potential fuel savings in the range of 35-40% have been estimated for long haul flights, usually, the aircraft providing the fuel is specially designed for the task, although refueling pods can be fitted to existing aircraft designs if the probe-and-drogue system is to be used. There is no known regular civilian in-flight refueling activity, for instance, in the Gulf War and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Iraq War, all coalition air sorties were air-refueled except for a few short-range ground attack sorties in the Kuwait area. The first mid-air refueling, based on the development of Alexander P. de Seversky, as the 1920s progressed, greater numbers of aviation enthusiasts vied to set new aerial long-distance records, using inflight air refueling. One such enthusiast, who would revolutionize aerial refueling was Sir Alan Cobham, member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, and a pioneer of long-distance aviation. During the 1920s, he made long-distance flights to places as far afield as Africa and Australia and this craft was eventually modified by Airspeed to Cobhams specification, for a non-stop flight from London to India, using in-flight refueling to extend the planes flight duration. Meanwhile, in 1929, a group of U. S. Army Air Corps fliers, led by then Major Carl Spaatz, set an endurance record of over 150 hours with the Question Mark over Los Angeles. Aerial refueling remained a dangerous process until 1935 when brothers Fred and Al Key demonstrated a spill-free refueling nozzle. They exceeded the Hunters record by nearly 100 hours in a Curtiss Robin monoplane, the US was mainly concerned about transatlantic flights for faster postal service between Europe and America. In 1931 W. Irving Glover, the assistant postmaster, wrote an extensive article for Popular Mechanics concerning the challenges. In his article he even mentioned the use of Aerial refueling after take off as a possible solution, by 1931 they had demonstrated refueling between two Vickers Virginias, with fuel flow controlled by an automatic valve on the hose which would cut off if contact was lost. Royal Air Force officer Richard Atcherley had observed the dangerous aerial-refueling techniques in use at barnstorming events in the US and determined to create a workable system. In 1934, Cobham sold off the airline Cobham Air Routes Ltd to Olley Air Service, atcherlys system was bought up by Cobhams company, and with some refinement and continuous improvement through the late 30s, it became the first practical refueling system. Sir Alan Cobhams Grappled-line looped-hose air-to-air refueling system borrowed from techniques patented by David Nicolson and John Lord, and was publicly demonstrated for the first time in 1935. In the system the aircraft, at one time an Airspeed Courier, trailed a steel cable which was then grappled by a line shot from the tanker. The line was drawn back into the tanker where the receivers cable was connected to the refueling hose
22.
Boeing E-4
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The Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post, with the project name Nightwatch, is a strategic command and control military aircraft operated by the United States Air Force. The E-4 series was modified from the Boeing 747-200B. The E-4 serves as a mobile command post for the National Command Authority, namely the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense. The four E-4Bs are operated by the 1st Airborne Command and Control Squadron of the 595th Command and Control Group located at Offutt Air Force Base, near Omaha, an E-4B is denoted a National Airborne Operations Center when in action. Two of the original 747-200 airframes were originally planned to be commercial airliners, the first E-4A was completed at the Boeing plant outside Seattle, Washington in 1973. E-Systems won the contract to install interim equipment in three aircraft, and the first completed E-4A was delivered to Andrews AFB, Maryland in December 1974. The next two were delivered in 1975, the third differed by being powered by the GE F103 engine, the A model effectively housed the same equipment as the EC-135, but offered more space and an ability to remain aloft longer than an EC-135. In November 1973 it was reported that the program cost was estimated to total $548 million for seven 747s, six as operational command posts and one for research and development. In December 1973 a fourth aircraft was ordered, it was fitted with advanced equipment. This contains the aircrafts SHF satellite antenna, by January 1985 all three E-4As had been retrofitted to E-4B models. The E-4B offered a vast increase in capability over the previous model and was considered to be hardened against the effects of electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear blast. Hardening the aircraft meant that all equipment and wiring on board was shielded from EMP, the E-4B fleet has an estimated roll-out cost of approximately US$250 million each. In 2005 the Air Force awarded Boeing a five-year, US$2 billion contract for the upgrade of the E-4B fleet. In addition to the purchase and upgrade costs, the E-4 costs nearly $160,000 per hour for the Air Force to operate, the E-4B is designed to survive an EMP with systems intact and has state-of-the-art direct fire countermeasures. Although many older aircraft have been upgraded with glass cockpits, the E-4B still uses traditional analog flight instruments, the E-4B is capable of operating with a crew up to 112 people including flight and mission personnel, the largest crew of any aircraft in US Air Force history. With in-flight aerial refueling it is capable of remaining airborne for a considerable period, limited only by consumption of the engines lubricants. In a test flight for endurance, the aircraft remained airborne and fully operational for 35.4 hours and it takes two fully loaded KC-135 tankers to fully refuel an E-4B. The E-4B has three decks, upper, middle, and lower
23.
History of the Iranian Air Force
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The history of the Iranian Air Force can be divided into two phases — before the Islamic Revolution, and after it. The Imperial Iranian Air Force was a branch of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces and was established by Reza Shah and it became operational with its first fully trained pilots on February 25,1925. Irans first attempt to procure aircraft from the United States in the 1920s failed due to Washingtons refusal to supply equipment because of a World War I treaty, until World War II, the IIAFs aircraft inventory consisted entirely of European aircraft, mainly British and German. A few Iranian planes did manage to get airborne during the invasion, a roughly 1946 order of battle for the Air Force can be found in Janes Fighting Aircraft of World War II. Two regiments were reported to be based near Tehran. After World War II, the IIAF began to rebuild its inventory, with aircraft mainly supplied by the United States. A national, aerobatic team was formed in 1958. Called Golden Crown, and a part of the IIAF, this lasted until 1978, in the 1960s, the IIAF acquired 90 Canadair Sabre fighters from the RCAF, but they were flipped over to the Pakistan Air Force. In the 1960s and 1970s, the air force was used as part of a joint, aerial espionage programme of Iran and this was in two parts, known as Project Dark Gene and Project Ibex. The IIAF deployed aircraft to Oman in the 1970s, when Iran provided military assistance to that country, during this conflict, one Iranian F-4 Phantom II was shot down by rebels. In 1976, the Imperial Iranian Air Force responded to a UFO incident over the Iranian capital, later in the 1970s, the IIAF became the only military force other than the United States Navy to be equipped with the F-14 Tomcat. Consequently, it became the only other operator of the AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missile. Some were brought back into service, due to localised production of reverse-engineered, Iranian-made, spare parts, during this era, the United States instituted the Spellout, Peace Ruby and Peace Net programmes to improve/upgrade, the air-defence system of Iran. As well as air defence radars, the network was linked using microwave LOS and troposcatter communications networks. The IIAF had also placed an order for over 150 F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft in 1976 and these aircraft would go on to serve in the Israeli Air Force. The overthrow of the Shah in the Islamic Revolution of February 1979, was followed by changes to the organization of the Iranian military, the air force was renamed the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, and largely inherited the equipment and structure of the former IIAF. Due to strained relations with the west, Iran had to procure new equipment from Brazil, the Soviet Union/Russia and its other personnel were also decimated by the purges, with many pilots removed or leaving the air force. This left the air force ill-prepared for the Iran–Iraq War, intense Iranian activity inside Iraqi air space during the first week of the war managed to prove so successful that it eventually forced the Iraqi Air Force onto the defensive
24.
Space Shuttle Challenger
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Space Shuttle Challenger was the second orbiter of NASAs space shuttle program to be put into service following Columbia. The shuttle was built by Rockwell Internationals Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey and its maiden flight, STS-6, started on April 4,1983. It was the first of two shuttles to be destroyed in flight, the other being Columbia in 2003, the accident led to a two-and-a-half year grounding of the shuttle fleet, flights resumed in 1988 with STS-26 flown by Discovery. Challenger itself was replaced by Endeavour which was built using structural spares ordered by NASA as part of the contracts for Discovery. The Apollo 17 lunar module that landed on the Moon in 1972 was also named Challenger. Because of the low volume of orbiters, the Space Shuttle program decided to build a vehicle as a Structural Test Article, STA-099. The contract for STA-099 was awarded to North American Rockwell on July 26,1972, after STA-099s rollout, it was sent to a Lockheed test site in Palmdale, where it spent over 11 months in vibration tests designed to simulate entire shuttle flights, from launch to landing. In order to prevent damage during structural testing, qualification tests were performed to a factor of safety of 1.2 times the limit loads. The qualification tests were used to validate computational models, and compliance with the required 1.4 factor of safety was shown by analysis. STA-099 was essentially a complete airframe of a Space Shuttle orbiter, with only a crew module installed. Modifying her for flight article status would have far too difficult, expensive. Since STA-099 was not as far along in the construction of its airframe, because STA-099s qualification testing prevented damage, NASA found that rebuilding STA-099 as OV-099 would be less expensive than refitting Enterprise. Work on converting STA-099 into Challenger began in January 1979, starting with just the crew module as the rest of the orbiter was used by Lockheed. STA-099 returned to the Rockwell plant in November 1979, and the original unfinished crew module was replaced with the newly constructed model. Major portions of STA-099, including the bay doors, body flap, wings and vertical stabilizer. By early 1981, most of these components had returned to Palmdale and were reinstalled on the orbiter, work continued on the conversion until July 1982. Challenger had fewer tiles in its Thermal Protection System than Columbia, most of the tiles on the payload bay doors, upper wing surfaces, and rear fuselage surfaces were replaced with DuPont white Nomex felt insulation. These modifications as well as a lighter structure allowed Challenger to carry 2,500 lb more payload than Columbia
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