NASA will buy a second used 747...

NASA will buy a second used 747 jumbo jet to help ferry space shuttles from Edwards Air Force Base in California, their primary landing site, back to the launch site at Cape Canaveral to eliminate crippling delays in the event of an aircraft accident, officials said. NASA’s original “shuttle carrier aircraft,” or SCA, was purchased from American Airlines for $16 million in 1974 and modified to transport the 100-ton spaceships, which are mounted on the plane’s back for cross-country trips. The new 747-100 originally was owned by Japan Air Lines, which later sold it to Boeing Military Airplane Co., a division of Boeing Co. of Seattle.