![]() ![]() and flying over New York City - in 1983.Īs for the Intrepid, prior to becoming a museum in 1982, it served as the primary recovery ship for two of NASA's early manned spaceflights. In addition to ground tests and captive flights (during which Enterprise remained atop its carrier plane), two astronaut crews took turns flying the 150,000-pound (68,000-kilogram) spacecraft to free-flight landings.Īfter the ALT program ended, Enterprise was used as a test and fit-check vehicle for the space shuttle program's ground processing facilities and two launch pads - Kennedy Space Center's Complex 39 in Florida and the planned but never used SLC-6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.Įnterprise also became the only space shuttle to fly overseas, visiting the Paris Air Show as well as Germany, Italy and England before returning to the U.S. The first of NASA's orbiters to roll off the assembly line, Enterprise is best known for the nine-month Approach and Landing Test (ALT) program, which demonstrated that a spacecraft that launched like a rocket could fly in the atmosphere and land like an airplane, except without power-gliding flight. Originally called the "Constitution," Enterprise got its name after fans of the sci-fi TV series "Star Trek" staged a successful write-in campaign. (Image credit: Andrea Mustain)Įnterprise and the Intrepid both played important but supporting roles in NASA's human spaceflight efforts. Over the next few years, the Intrepid has plans to build a Science and Technology Center, which will become Enterprise's permanent home.Īndrea Mustain, staff writer for our sister site OurAmazingPlanet, caught the Enterprise over the Hudson River on April 27, 2012. The flight deck exhibit, however, is intended to be temporary. Inside, guests will find Enterprise displayed as if it were landing from one its test flights, its nose raised into the air and tailcone attached at its rear. The Intrepid plans to open its new "Space Shuttle Pavilion" to the public on July 19. A climate-controlled structure made of steel and fabric will then be erected over the shuttle beginning on June 7. The crane-equipped barge will then complete the trip with Enterprise up the Hudson on June 6, pulling up next to the Intrepid and offloading the orbiter onto the museum's flight deck. ![]() Once there, the space shuttle will be transferred to another barge outfitted with a large crane. On June 4, Enterprise will be hoisted onto a specially configured barge and towed down the Hudson River to a dock in Bayonne, N. Once separated, Enterprise will be parked in an airport hangar for several weeks. ![]() Now on the ground in New York, Enterprise and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft will remain mounted together at JFK until NASA can move and set up the two large cranes that joined the two vehicles in Washington. "While New York is getting the space shuttle today, I must admit this is bittersweet for NASA, because we are saying goodbye to it," said NASA deputy chief Lori Garver. The space agency already turned over Enterprise's title to the museum last December. ![]() A brief handover ceremony between NASA and Intrepid staff was to be held at the airport. (Image credit: Kendra Snyder)Įnterprise's final landing was witnessed by an audience of 1,500 invited guests, including New York state and local elected officials. Reader Kendra Snyder caught the Enterprise between the buildings of Manhattan's Upper West Side at 80th and Broadway on April 27, 2012. ![]()
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