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.
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
7.
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
8.
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
9.
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
10.
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
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