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Space Shuttle Collides With Bridge In New York
First time accepted submitter AbrasiveCat writes "While transporting the space shuttle Enterprise to its new home at the Intrepid Museum, a gust of wind caught the shuttle and pushed a wing tip into the South Channel Subway Bridge. With any luck it was just the protective covering that was damaged. Ah, New York traffic."
We were hoping that Britain would provide something of a buffer; but it looks like metric wind is making its way from the EU after all...
The summary should reflect that the Space Shuttle was being transported on top of a barge at the time of collision. Very low speed impact, very little damage. Headline is misleadingly catastrophic.
Ready for throttle-up.
Why am I both relieved and disappointed this wasn't an awesome space crash?
I wish there was a way to post a diagram of what I was imagining this article to be about, based on the headline alone.
Hint: It would have been the Brooklyn Bridge, and there would have been volcanoes and dinosaurs involved.
Mod parent up to +10. There's NOTHING worse than hyperbole. If I had a nickel for every time I saw unnecessary hyperbole, I'd be a BILLIONAIRE by now. If I could jump as over the top as these headlines get, I could out-leap Superman over tall buildings! Excessive use of hyperbole is worse than SATAN rising from the DEPTHS OF HELL, spewing HELLFIRE on everyone!
Or, maybe, just maybe, you need to take a valium. Not sure.
THIS is why you CAN'T have nice things!
Should of sent it to Texas, we were more careful with our shuttle replica than they were with the real things it seems. Someones head is going to roll over this I bet.
Well, I can say there was nothing recognizable damaged to an untrained eye with a 300mm camera lens... I was on the bank of the bay, near the Verrazana-Narrows Bridge taking pictures... Maybe that's why they were late getting there, they might've stopped to inspect it after the collision.
There are many ambiguities in the summary.
1. The bridge was over water, not a roadway.
2. This was neither caused by "New York traffic" nor did it disrupt (land) traffic.
3. The protective covering that was damaged was on the Enterprise, not the bridge.
4. You can view photos of the damage yourself.
I'm so glad New York City got a Space Shuttle instead of the National Museum of the United State Air Force. That way, citizens can pay to see it (NMUSAF is totally free--including parking), in a setting that makes sense (there were carrier-based space shuttles, right?) and it's clustered next to another shuttle (less than eight hours NYC to DC, vs. putting it towards the center of the country). Further, this shows that the Intrepid museum is already providing the lack of care they have provided other artifacts.
these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise?
I'm confused, do I go to the Cargo Letter or Airdisaster.com for news on this ?
Guess I should check Wrecked Exotics while I'm at it.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Have gnu, will travel.
[Scotty]: What, she didna' have her shields up?
The Saturn V is now in a lovely enclosure fully restored.
Oddly enough the same people who complained about it being left outside to rot complain about it now being covered up in a warehouse.
These things have been known to break up on re-entry.
And shortly after launch.
After looking at the pictures, it's not like the Brooklyn bridge just jumped out in front of the barge carrying the shuttle. It was transiting a fairly narrow bridge. The wingspan on the shuttle is 78 feet, and a google map distance measurement of where the shuttle clipped the bridge says the space they had to work with was about 100 feet, give or take. That means if you absolutely threaded the needle, you should have had 11 feet (That's about 3.3 meters for you folks unfamiliar with a proper unit of measurement =) ) to work with on either side of the bird. That seems like a lot, but on a windy day.....very touchy.
https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=J+F+K+Airport,+New+York,+NY&aq=0&oq=JFK+&sll=40.639749,-73.824348&sspn=0.097239,0.057421&vpsrc=0&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=J+F+K+Airport,+New+York,+NY&z=13&cid=17028024512003641840&iwloc=A
(if the link is jacked up, just go to JFK and work your way south east)
It looks like, from the pictures upthread, the shuttle hit the railroad bridge that sits between Cross Bay Blvd and JFK airport. I've ground handled large aircraft on the tarmac, and 11 feet is too close for comfort in my book. I don't envy the guys who had to try and make that work.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
"On the 4th of June 2012, on this spot, the Space Shuttle Enterprise crashed into this bridge."
Details are not that important. Awesome plaqueage is.
These clowns should never have been allowed to touch the Shuttle. That "cosmetic foam" was one of the most important structures/mechanisms on the shuttle: its heat shield that protected it from reentry. That reentry is what makes it a shuttle and not just a launcher. The heat shield foam was one of the most famous innovations brought by the shuttle programme. They didn't know that? Why didn't they cover the wingtips with something stronger than foam? They knew it was narrow clearance, in a usually windy passage.
But then, they evidently don't have artificial lighting to inspect their cargo after dark, either. Or schedules, so they'd know they'd need lights to inspect the shuttle for damage once they arrived, even if they hadn't obviously smashed it.
This was a brand-new Space Shuttle. They just broke it. Weeks Marine should have to buy NYC a new one.
--
make install -not war
Is it just me, or is it blindingly obvious that if the barge was at least as wide as the shuttle, it'd be the barge scraped up and not the shuttle. Barges are generally more replaceable than shuttles, even if they are only flight test and landing mocks.
-- Terry