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Space Shuttle Enterprise arrives in New York


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After days of weather delays, the Space Shuttle Enterprise finally made the flight to New York this morning, arriving at Kennedy Airport on the back of a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The combo made an aerial tour of the New York area, flying up and down the Hudson River, over the Statue of Liberty, with fly overs at all three major area airports, before finally landing at JFK.

1 - Initial fly over at Kennedy

JM20120427ShuttleEnterprise001-XL.jpg

2 - With a NASA T-38 chase plane watching, the SCA makes a low approach

JM20120427ShuttleEnterprise003-XL.jpg

3 - On approach for the full stop landing

JM20120427ShuttleEnterprise006-XL.jpg

4 - Passing the JFK Tower on short final

JM20120427ShuttleEnterprise008-XL.jpg

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Wonderful shots there Moose! Were the press and photographers allowed close access after she was on the ground or was it pretty much impossible to get shots of her upclose on the ground? Would be nice to see her details in good outdoor lighting.

Bill

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Beautiful pictures Moose! I was over by the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, next to JFK, and took a lot of nice pictures of the fly over and landing. I still have to upload the pictures. It was a great experience.

Mike.

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Nice images but I am really saddened by this, I am concerned the Shuttle will be exposed to the elements sitting on the carrier deck.

To think museums don't even want people touching aircraft yet this one is going to be exposed to moisture on a carrier deck. These items should be treated as national treasures.

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Thanks guys! I was sweating this one out. They delayed a couple of times due to weather, and I'm leaving on a business trip in the morning, so if it didn't come in today, I was probably going to miss it.

Scooby, they will place it in a temporary structure (like one of those big tennis bubbles) until a permanent building is constructed. They won't leave it out in the open on the carrier deck.

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Great photos...

I can remember watching the test bed Shuttle Enterprise fly (glide) for the first time off the 747 on Aug. 12 1977. It was summer holidays, I was an eyes wide open with fascination kid glued to the t.v. for that event. I can recall it like it was yesterday. My oh my has time passed. I also clearly recall staying home from school Apr. 12 1981 to watch Shuttle Columbia launch for the first time. AWESOME. Somehow life events and coolness of achievements are not the same nowadays.

It again only hi-lites how time flies and how we take it too much for granted. SOAK IT UP FOLKS, TIME, LIFE AND EXPERIENCES!

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Thanks guys! I was sweating this one out. They delayed a couple of times due to weather, and I'm leaving on a business trip in the morning, so if it didn't come in today, I was probably going to miss it.

Scooby, they will place it in a temporary structure (like one of those big tennis bubbles) until a permanent building is constructed. They won't leave it out in the open on the carrier deck.

Still don't agree with it, when the Shuttles were offered out the stipulation was it was they were to go to climate controlled facilities immediately. But there were some politics in the final destination.

I think the two no brainers were the Smithonian and the USAF museum.

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Great photos...

I can remember watching the test bed Shuttle Enterprise fly (glide) for the first time off the 747 on Aug. 12 1977. It was summer holidays, I was an eyes wide open with fascination kid glued to the t.v. for that event. I can recall it like it was yesterday. My oh my has time passed. I also clearly recall staying home from school Apr. 12 1981 to watch Shuttle Columbia launch for the first time. AWESOME. Somehow life events and coolness of achievements are not the same nowadays.

It again only hi-lites how time flies and how we take it too much for granted. SOAK IT UP FOLKS, TIME, LIFE AND EXPERIENCES!

That was a time I will never forget too.

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Still don't agree with it, when the Shuttles were offered out the stipulation was it was they were to go to climate controlled facilities immediately. But there were some politics in the final destination.

I think the two no brainers were the Smithonian and the USAF museum.

The Smithsonian is the one who traded out the Enterprise to NY in order to get Discovery:

800px-Enterprise_and_Discovery.jpg

As a New Yorker, I know that the Space Shuttle will be taken care of as it will be a tourist attraction as well in a museum that has Space as part of it s name but didn't have much to show as displays.

Regards,

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Still don't agree with it, when the Shuttles were offered out the stipulation was it was they were to go to climate controlled facilities immediately. But there were some politics in the final destination.

I think the two no brainers were the Smithonian and the USAF museum.

I know it's just useless discussion now, but I question that also. All of 'em on the coasts. Instead of NYC, one should have gone towards the middle of the country. It should have been placed at Dayton, Houston, or possibly the Science & Industry Museum in Chicago.

***********************************

To Moose: Beautiful pics! I saw Enterprise on the 747 at the 1983 Paris Air Show. My pics nowhere near as good as yours!

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The Smithsonian is the one who traded out the Enterprise to NY in order to get Discovery:

Not true. The Smithsonian trasferred the title for Enterprise back to NASA and it was NASA who made the ultimate determination to send Enterprise to NYC. The Smithsonian knew they were getting Discovery all along since it was the highest time shuttle. But they didn't have a hand in Enterprise's final destination.

Two of the many museums who were bidding for the shuttles were hoping to get Enterprise. Seattle was one of them and the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL was the other. Huntsville's idea was to get both pathfinder space vehicles on display since they also have a Saturn V with rocket stages that were used as test articles. Plus, Enterprise had visited Marshall SFC years before for vibration testing.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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I admit I know nothing of NYC geography. How are they going to get Enterprise to the Intrepid? Is JFK on the water? If so, I assume the shuttle will be barged to the museum.

SN (Flyover State Resident)

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I admit I know nothing of NYC geography. How are they going to get Enterprise to the Intrepid? Is JFK on the water? If so, I assume the shuttle will be barged to the museum.

SN (Flyover State Resident)

Steven,

They're going to use a barge and to float it from JFK which is on Long Island, the Intrepid is moored on the Central West side of Manhattan ... I pinned the locations on the map ...

>>> Map <<<

HTH ...

-Gregg

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Not true. The Smithsonian trasferred the title for Enterprise back to NASA and it was NASA who made the ultimate determination to send Enterprise to NYC. The Smithsonian knew they were getting Discovery all along since it was the highest time shuttle. But they didn't have a hand in Enterprise's final destination.

Two of the many museums who were bidding for the shuttles were hoping to get Enterprise. Seattle was one of them and the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL was the other. Huntsville's idea was to get both pathfinder space vehicles on display since they also have a Saturn V with rocket stages that were used as test articles. Plus, Enterprise had visited Marshall SFC years before for vibration testing.

Correct.

I'd have liked to seen Seattle and Dayton each get a shuttle.

My wife has always wanted to visit New York, so now we have another good reason to go there. I hope it is well cared for and the building goes up fast.

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Sad to see so many Unique items go to the Intrepid just to rot.

The Intrepid does have a beautiful A-4 and I think TBM.. But they are below deck. The stuff topside looks ragged. The Concorde they have is already starting to look like hell.

Why NASA let them have a national treasure is beyond me, when the NMUSAF has the resources to properly care for it. I hope the USAF remembers this jab next time NASA wants to slap one of their decals on an AFRL project.

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I MISSED THE DAMN TRAIN... I ran into major traffic going to Brewster and got the station just as the train came in... I think I would have missed it anyway... IT CAME IN WAY TO EARLY.... I missed it by about an hour or so. Maybe less... I am piffed I will never get to see one fly...

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