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Space Shuttle Collides With Bridge In New York

Posted by timothy on from the all-this-to-avoid-the-tunnel-toll dept.

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."

21 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Blast. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    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...

  2. It was on a boat by wookaru · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:It was on a boat by TWX · · Score: 5, Informative

      Low speed doesn't mean little damage necessarily.

      A barge is fairly heavy, and if it's being pulled with the current, there's a whole lot of energy behind it. The shuttle could act like the crumple zone on a car in a collision, essentially being crushed in the process of slowing or stopping the barge.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:It was on a boat by MBAFK · · Score: 5, Informative

      This page is more informative and has the damage photos: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-060412a.html

      Doesn't look too bad.

    3. Re:It was on a boat by Baloroth · · Score: 4, Funny

      A priceless relic collides with a heavily used piece of transportation infrastructure?

      Thank God the relic wasn't damaged, and the Shuttle should be pretty easy to fix.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    4. Re:It was on a boat by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Low speed doesn't mean little damage necessarily

      I can vouch for that. When I was in the USAF stationed at Dover in 1971-3, one of the tow tractors backing a C5-A into a hangar hit the hangar door with a wing. We're talking really low speed here, slower than a normal walk. It did five million dollars in damage. Worried the hell out of the tractor driver until they layed the blame on the wingwalker.

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
    5. Re:It was on a boat by BobNET · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's funny, the damage doesn't look as bad from out here.

  3. Oblig Tasteless by stevegee58 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ready for throttle-up.

    1. Re:Oblig Tasteless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ready for throttle-up.

      Well, as long as we're all going to hell today, 2001 called, 1986 can have its tasteless humor back:

      This just in: A SECOND SPACE SHUTTLE HAS JUST CRASHED INTO THE SECOND PIER OF THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE!

  4. Re:Ease up on the hyperbole please. by Tanktalus · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  5. New Yorkers... by Sez+Zero · · Score: 5, Funny

    THIS is why you CAN'T have nice things!

  6. Should of sent it by Dyinobal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Should of sent it by Anubis+IV · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, they were trying to console Houstonians a few weeks ago by telling them, "Well, at least the model shuttle we'll be getting is something the public will be allowed to walk through and see from the inside." Small comfort for a city that's devoted so much to the industry. It just feels like a massive slap in the face.

    2. Re:Should of sent it by Dyinobal · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You mean like this? http://www.click2houston.com/image/view/-/14428030/medRes/1/-/maxh/360/maxw/640/-/vrhrx6/-/shuttle54-jpg.jpg

      Houston seems to have managed to get their replica to it's new home safely. Someone dropped the ball, you always factor in wind when on the water, always

  7. I didn't see anything... by khr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  8. Ambiguities by michaelmalak · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

  9. No Business in NYC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  10. So, by hackertourist · · Score: 5, Funny

    these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise?

  11. Another accident ... by PPH · · Score: 4, Funny

    .. and again, there were no survivors among the shuttle crew.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  12. SHIELDS! SHIELDS! by ebinrock · · Score: 3, Funny

    [Scotty]: What, she didna' have her shields up?

  13. Someone understandable. by Darth_brooks · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.