Space Shuttles, Lasers and Doomsday Bases: Amazing Payloads for 747s [Slide Show]

Ferrying space shuttles across the country is just one of the very odd jobs given to the workhorse jumbo jet

AIR BASE: In the event of nuclear catastrophe, top U.S. government officials will be able to manage the nation from “a highly survivable command, control and communications center,” says the U.S... U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Jerry Morrison
EYE IN THE SKY: NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) carries a 2.5-meter telescope to 13,700 meters—an altitude that would make even the most seasoned mountaintop astronomer envious... NASA/Jim Ross
LETTING FLY: Oregon-based Evergreen International Aviation boasts that its Supertanker is “the largest aerial firefighting aircraft in the world.” A converted 747-100 cargo plane, it holds 75,000 liters of water or flame retardant... Kari Bluff via Flickr/Creative Commons
SPEED OF LIGHT: The Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB), a modified 747-400 cargo plane, used a directed-energy weapon to destroy a ballistic missile in flight during a 2010 test. The plane’s nose turret featured a telescope that aimed a megawatt-class laser to heat a “boosting ballistic missile to critical structural failure” within two minutes of launch, according to Boeing, the prime contractor for the U.S... U.S. Missile Defense Agency
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PIGGYBACK: NASA has two 747-100s, originally built for passenger service, used to carry space shuttles across the country. Whenever a shuttle mission was diverted by poor weather to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California, for instance, a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) would give the orbiter a piggyback ride back to Kennedy Space Center in Florida... Ken Kremer (www.kenkremer.com)

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