Scott Hanko
Space Shuttle Enterprise
Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle Orbiter, is the centerpiece of the new McDonnell Space Hangar at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The orbiter's been at the museum since it opened last December, but the space hangar has been closed off while workers refurbished the Enterprise.
Now, visitors will be able to get closer, exploring the Shuttle and a host of other space artifacts from the ground level or from two elevated overlooks.
"It's beautiful ... very impressive," said museum curator Paul Ceruzzi. "It deservedly will be the center of attention." Visitors can't climb into the shuttle, but Ceruzzi says he eventually hopes the museum will have a shuttle cockpit displayed separately. He also says the museum is considering putting cameras inside some of the exhibits to give visitors a virtual inside look. And he hopes they may someday replace Enterprise with a space-flown orbiter, once the Shuttle fleet is retired.
Enterprise never flew in space, but it was crucial to the Space Shuttle program. Its series of approach and landing tests in 1977 proved the orbiter could fly in the atmosphere and land like an airplane, except without power -- like a glider (+ View Photo). Astronaut Gordon Fullerton, who piloted the Enterprise to its first landing alongside Apollo 13 veteran Fred Haise, rekindled memories about the test flights during a dinner at the museum earlier this month (+ Read More).
After those tests, Enterprise was flown to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where it was mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters and subjected to a series of vertical ground vibration tests. The orbiter was also sent to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it was rolled out to the launch pad to act as a "stand-in" as NASA prepared for the first shuttle launch
Space Shuttle Enterprise
Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle Orbiter, is the centerpiece of the new McDonnell Space Hangar at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The orbiter's been at the museum since it opened last December, but the space hangar has been closed off while workers refurbished the Enterprise.
Now, visitors will be able to get closer, exploring the Shuttle and a host of other space artifacts from the ground level or from two elevated overlooks.
"It's beautiful ... very impressive," said museum curator Paul Ceruzzi. "It deservedly will be the center of attention." Visitors can't climb into the shuttle, but Ceruzzi says he eventually hopes the museum will have a shuttle cockpit displayed separately. He also says the museum is considering putting cameras inside some of the exhibits to give visitors a virtual inside look. And he hopes they may someday replace Enterprise with a space-flown orbiter, once the Shuttle fleet is retired.
Enterprise never flew in space, but it was crucial to the Space Shuttle program. Its series of approach and landing tests in 1977 proved the orbiter could fly in the atmosphere and land like an airplane, except without power -- like a glider (+ View Photo). Astronaut Gordon Fullerton, who piloted the Enterprise to its first landing alongside Apollo 13 veteran Fred Haise, rekindled memories about the test flights during a dinner at the museum earlier this month (+ Read More).
After those tests, Enterprise was flown to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where it was mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters and subjected to a series of vertical ground vibration tests. The orbiter was also sent to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it was rolled out to the launch pad to act as a "stand-in" as NASA prepared for the first shuttle launch