#Space shuttle enterprise flown items software#

'It's a very gratifying feeling for someone who's devoted their career to test flying like myself and all the other astronauts,' said former Air Force Maj. Test pilots demonstrated that it could fly and land in the atmosphere like airplanes, but the Enterprise never flew in space. The shuttle, which has been on display at a Smithsonian Institute museum near Washington, is the latest to shift locations as NASA sends its fleet into retirement.ĭiscovery - the most traveled of the shuttles - is replacing Enterprise in the Smithsonian facility.Ĭompleted in 1976, Enterprise was designed as a prototype test vehicle. And above all, we need a space program that can do great things in a sustainable way.' 'The shuttle was amazing but it's not sustainable. 'It's the end of one era, but I think it's the beginning of another era,' said space historian Andrew Chaikin. The space agency said it will put the shuttle on a barge in a few weeks and float it up the Hudson River to its final home. 'For kids to be able to come and see this when they'd have to travel miles and miles to go somewhere else, it's right in their back yard.' 'This is going to be the largest NASA artifact north of Baltimore in the entire Northeast region,' said Susan Marenoff-Zausner, the Intrepid's president. It is ultimately bound for its new home at the city's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. It took off from Virginia's Dulles International Airport with a flight plan that included fly-bys of the Statue of Liberty and other Gotham landmarks. Kennedy International Airport, bringing an end to its final flight. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.NEW YORK (CNN) - The space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a 747 jumbo jet, swooped across the New York City skyline on Friday before touching down at the city's John F. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file.

#Space shuttle enterprise flown items software#

This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap InSapphoWeTrust from Los Angeles, California, USA I would return in 2013 to photograph Discovery. Enterprise was moved to New York City and given to Intrepid Air & Sea Museum.

With the retirement of the Shuttle fleet, Discovery took over at the Smithsonian in 2012. Fitting Enterprise out was once again considered an option when Challenger was destroyed in 1986, but due to cost issues, again, NASA decided in favor of using structural spares (built at the same time as Discovery and Atlantis in 1984) to build Endeavour.Įnterprise never flew again, though it served as a goodwill ambassador as it was ferried to Europe in 1983, and also as a testbed during the investigation for the 2003 Columbia disaster. Instead, a structural test bed, OV-99, was fitted out as the second spaceworthy orbiter, and it entered service in 1983 as Challenger. However, due to design changes made for Columbia, it was deemed that fitting Enterprise out would not be cost-effective. The original plans called for Enterprise to be fitted out for spaceflight as the second orbiter.

Its role was to test in-atmosphere aerodynamics, so that future shuttles, starting with Columbia (OV-102), could make space flights and return safely to Earth. It was not equipped with heat tiles, and therefore could not fly in space.

Description Space Shuttle Enterprise (NASA) (5481038355).jpgĮnterprise goes through restoration at Udvar-Hazy Center, Dulles Airport, in July 2004.Įnterprise (OV-101) was the first space shuttle built, and named by Star Trek fans.