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Up Close With the Enterprise Shuttle At the Intrepid Museum

Posted by samzenpus on from the welcome-to-the-museum dept.

An anonymous reader writes "As you probably remember, the Space Shuttle Enterprise was flown on the back of a 747 to New York City where it was then delivered to the USS Intrepid. As sad as it was to see a space shuttle retired (and NASA take a major step down in the space flight abilities) this was one of the most amazingly geektastic events in recent memory. Now the shuttle is on top of the aircraft carrier's flight deck, living in its very own pavilion. As of tomorrow it will go on display as part of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, but today we got a sneak peek at the shuttle."

4 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Enterprise Shuttle? by busyqth · · Score: 5, Funny

    I use it every time I travel on business.
    They're the best car rental in my opinion.

  2. Not the best possible home by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One thing I remember about the Intrepid was the fighter jets on the flight deck with shattered cockpits. Unfortunately, it's not been possible to date to keep vandals off of the ship. So, keep watching how they take care of the Shuttle. If there are problems, we really should start lobbying for a different home.

    --
    Bruce Perens.
  3. Cool pictures but... by FSWKU · · Score: 5, Informative
    FTFA:

    "Some interesting points to note include the painted-over windows (the gray circles near the nose), the amazing intricacy and build quality of the landing gear mechanism, and the tail piece. The Enterprise was never fitted with engines so it has that specially designed part in the back."

    Umm, hate to be "that guy" but there is so much fail in that one snippet I can't stand it.

    • The "gray circles near the nose" are not windows that were painted over. They're inserts to block the nozzles for the RCS system (and thereby reduce drag for glide tests).
    • The Enterprise may not have had real engines, but it DID have mockups for handling tests at KSC (as seen here.
    • That "specially designed part in the back" is an aerodynamic faring used to reduce drag on the ferry flights and thus reduce fuel consumption in an already heavily burdened 747 carrier aircraft. They ALL have one of those that could have been fitted when called for.

    Normally I wouldn't get this worked up, but from a site supposedly aimed at geeks, I expected more...

    --
    "So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
  4. Fond memories by ComfortablyAmbiguous · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember when I was a kid and they were testing the Enterprise out near Edwards air base. Periodically we would see it fly (glide) over on its way to a test landing during recess ( I was like 6 or 7 years old). My father was a fighter pilot and took me out to an open house at the air base. I was a huge Star Trek fan and seeing a real life Enterprise space shuttle was pretty amazing. I even got to sit in the pilots seat and generally look around. In terms of geektastic childhoods it doesn't get much better than that.