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Science Museum of Virginia
When a spacecraft re-enters the Earth's atmosphere from space, friction is generated between the surface of the craft and the atmosphere's air molecules. This results in heat. To protect the Space Shuttle, approximately 33,000 white and black tiles, made of silica fiber compound, cover its undersurface, the leading edge of the vertical tail, and the area around the crew windows. These protective tiles allow the Space Shuttle to be flown again and again.
The arc of windows at the roof of the hangar gives the impression of watching the sun rise over the curvature of the Earth. Clever positioning.
The Enterprise in her new home aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. The exhibit opens July 19.
Shuttle Enterprise structural assembly operations at Rockwell Downey in the Mated Manufacturing Aid (Iron Bird) - April 1975.
twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1185979301524574210/ph...
After a late night staying up watching NASA TV, we headed down to Canova Beach just before the 2:28 AM launch.
Unfortunately, due to a low overcast, the STS-123 launch was only visible for a scant few (but spectacular) seconds.
Still, an amazing experience.
I heard the sonic boom and rushed outside to take this shot of the contrail the space shuttle Atlantis left in its wake on the way to Edwards Air Force Base. (See also here for magnified view.)
I am automatically taking a picture of Enterprise's move to the Intrepid. Please continue to check my photostream for new images. A new image uploads every minute!
Here's the crawler that transports the space shuttle and its mobile launch platform to the launch pad. It drives at about a 1/2 mile per hour and gets something like 40 gallons per mile. That's right - gallons per mile! As the tour bus driver said "hug your SUV".