Shuttle Enterprise Comes To New York City

UPDATE:

Here's better photos of the return pass before the Shuttle Enterprise comes in for a landing at JFK International Airport in Queens. The 747 and Enterprise are emerging from behind the World Financial Center and the National 9/11 Museum is the structure below and 3WTC is the structure on the left:

UPDATE:
I've had a chance to review the photos more closely, and here's another good one:

 

Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum Preparing For Shuttle Enterprise

The Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum is busy preparing for the anticipated arrival of the shuttle prototype Enterprise next week.

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum is moving three aircrafts from its flight deck to make room for the space shuttle Enterprise.

The aircrafts are being hoisted by crane onto the pier and then a barge. They’ll be taken to the Empire State Aerosciences Museum in Glenville, N.Y.

They include a Supermarine Scimitar F.1 British Royal Navy fighter-bomber, a Douglas F3D-2 (F-10) Skyknight and a Mikoyan Gurevich MIG-15 aircraft.

They are moving several aircraft that had been displayed on the flight deck to make room for the Enterprise.

The Enterprise will be making its final flyby of the New York City metro area before landing at JFK Airport on Monday. It will be moved to the Intrepid by barge later this year when its location is prepared.

It is being flown on a specially prepared NASA Boeing 747, which while being lighter than a fully laden with passengers version, can fly only the fraction of the distance due to the higher wind resistance.

New Renderings For Intrepid Shuttle Museum Exhibit

New York's Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum won the right to display the shuttle Enterprise and while there are efforts by a couple of senators to rescind NASA's decision, the Intrepid is going ahead with its plans.

And they are delicious to look at. It would include the construction of a pavilion across the street from the aircraft carrier with the shuttle prominently displayed.

There are a few hurdles though. The museum doesn't own the parking lot on which the facility would be built, and there's the matter of fundraising. However, one pesky problem may be how the museum handles bus parking since it's expected to become a huge draw on the far West Side.

However, this is a project that can get done - and will look absolutely magnificent once completed.

Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum To Receive Shuttle Enterprise

The NY Daily News is reporting that the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum will be receiving the prototype shuttle Enterprise to add to its collection. The Enterprise never flew in space, but was instrumental in key tests before the first manned space flight of the Columbia in 1981. The Enterprise is currently part of the Smithsonian's collection, which means that the Discovery is likely headed to the Smithsonian to replace the Enterprise. That leaves two shuttles to be split out among the half dozen frontrunners for a shuttle, including museums in Seattle, Dayton Ohio, and the Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center.

The shuttle fleet is flying in to retirement this year after 30 years and more than 100 flights:



Where the three remaining space shuttles will end up is still a mystery. The battle to land these shuttles - priceless relics of an era of NASA manned spaceflight - has been fought by Congressional delegations and museum curators around the country hoping to land these spacecraft to make them the centerpieces of their collections.

UPDATE:
Seattle's Museum of Flight is not getting a shuttle, but will receive a full-fuselage trainer from the Johnson Space Center. The Kennedy Space Center is receiving Atlantis, while the California Science Center is getting Endeavor.