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.

Spaced Out

Newt Gingrich gave a speech in Florida where he indicated that he would oversee the construction of a manned US space platform on the Moon by 2020.

He's hardly the first to consider a return to the moon and go beyond towards Mars and the outer planets. But because this is the Space Coast that has seen lost jobs due to the end of the space shuttle program, they're willing to grasp at straws in the hopes that some jobs could come back as a result of a renewed manned space program. It's also a political ploy in the hopes that he can gain votes over Mitt Romney.

Yet, it's a rather ambitious timeline considering the fact that President George W. Bush first indicated an intention to send a manned mission to Mars and unveiled the Constellation program. That program would provide the heavy-lift capabilities needed to send men to the Moon and then to Mars. President Obama likewise called for a return to the moon, but budgetary concerns have all but scrapped the Constellation program's manned components.

The Ares rocket system has undergone some tests, including the heavy rocket launch into Earth orbit, but no testing has been carried out for the systems designed to send men back to the moon. Even then, those systems were largely based on a combination of space shuttle and Apollo-type technologies (modern variations of the shuttle solid rocket boosters and a J-2X engine based on the engines that powered the Saturn boosters).

How can Gingrich claim that he can return the US to the moon in the number he claims when he's pulling the plug on all kinds of spending.

After all, this is the same Republican party that has called for reductions in spending that will saddle the NOAA with a diminished fleet of satellites critical for weather forecasting.

Indeed, Gingrich has repeatedly claimed that NASA has squandered billions of dollars over the years. His solution to the money crunch is to cut even more fat and to offer incentives to businesses to reach back to the Moon. Incentives still require money, and pose all kinds of questions over what incentives would be sufficient to draw businesses into such risky ventures.

The infrastructure and equipment costs for a project of this size are considerable. The costs for a manned moon mission would still be in the billions of dollars that the country can't seem to allocate for such purposes.

There's no timeline in place for a return of a US manned space program through NASA, though several private programs are in the process of testing equipment that could return Americans to space without having to hop aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket systems. The SpaceX and Dragon systems are undergoing testing, but they are incapable of the heavy-lift missions needed for a manned mission to the Moon.

Those are the two programs that are furthest along in returning Americans to space. Everything else is still on the drawing board.

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.

Private Spacecraft To Fly To International Space Station In November

The last space shuttle mission ended a few weeks back, and it was expected that the US would have to rely on Russian spacecraft to get into space. Well, it turns out that SpaceX will be launching its Dragon capsule for an unmanned mission in November that serves not only as a test of the system, but will pave the way for private manned space missions.

We heard last month that NASA agreed to speed up SpaceX’s flight demo schedule, as SpaceX, eager to start making deliveries under its $1.6 billion NASA contract, asked NASA for permission to combine two planned missions into one. That mission is now targeted for the week after Thanksgiving, according to SpaceX.

In this demonstration under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, SpaceX will launch its Dragon capsule aboard a Falcon 9 rocket Nov. 30, and dock with the ISS nine days later. It will carry a limited payload to the station, which is fully stocked through next year thanks to the final shuttle delivery.

SpaceX will apparently use the opportunity to launch some other stuff, too, using the Falcon’s second stage that will deploy after the Dragon capsule separates from its fairing.

The Dragon capsule, the first privately built reusable spacecraft, made its first flight in December, and SpaceX has been conducting tests and dry runs in the months since. The company said it is working out the kinks in its COTS plans so that NASA will give final approval for a single mission.

The Final Rollout of the Space Shuttle

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Scott Andrews, his son Philip Andrews and Stan Jirman used 15 cameras and shot 120,000 still images to create a 3-minute time-lapse video showing the 4-day process of preparing the shuttle for its trek to the launch pad.

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.

Competition For Displaying Retiring Space Shuttles In Home Stretch

NASA is expected to announce the three museums that will have the honor of displaying one of the three surviving space shuttles on April 12, which is the 30th anniversary of the first flight by a shuttle (Columbia) into space.

The Intrepid Sea Air Space museum is among the hopefuls, and they've got an online petition with more than 150,000 signatures. Others include the Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, the Museum of Flight, the US Air Force Museum, and California Science Center in Los Angeles. 21 organizations have submitted applications, so there are going to be a lot of disappointed museum curators and space aficionados around the nation.

Key to any bid is that the winning museums must provide a climate controlled environment for the shuttle as well as other educational displays. NASA doesn't want to repeat the mistakes it made with its displays of Apollo equipment, which was left exposed to the elements and caused significant corrosion and decay.

For the Intrepid, this would mean building an enclosure on Pier 86 adjacent to the aircraft carrier and its exhibition of aircraft and spacecraft. This is a view of the Intrepid's mockup of a shuttle on display at Pier 86:

It's expected that Discovery will end up at the Smithsonian, which means that the two remaining shuttles - Endeavor and Atlantis will split between the remaining 20 sites. Each of the winning bids will have to provide nearly $30 million to NASA for preparing the shuttles for public display, including decontamination of propellant and other changes.

Another aspect that NASA will take into account is the number of people who would visit the shuttles, and gain exposure to the shuttle program, space exploration, and be inspired by such exposure in the future.

The Intrepid site would be an ideal platform, with millions of school kids in the NYC metro area, the largest tourist destination in the US, and a central location in Manhattan.

25 Years Since Challenger

25 years ago today, the space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after it was launched. All seven astronauts aboard were killed in the explosion.

Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair; (back row) Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik.

The investigation report (Rogers Commission) indicated that the explosion was due to leaks in the O ring seals of the solid rocket boosters following the launch that caused the external tank to explode and the disintegration of the shuttle over the Atlantic Ocean. The cold weather, and failure of NASA administrators to take into account the problems with the O rings led to the catastrophic loss of the shuttle and all those on board. The investigation led to a redesign of the solid rocket boosters and a change in launch protocols, but those were still insufficient to prevent the loss of the shuttle Columbia with all on board during reentry.

President Reagan's speech memorializing the lost Challenger astronauts:

Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum Close to Landing Space Shuttle For Its Collection

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) thinks that the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum is close to landing one of the three remaining space shuttles once they are retired at the end of the shuttle program. It's believed that the Smithsonian is one of the other institutions that will obtain a shuttle, but nothing has been finalized.

The senior lawmaker said a number of sources have told him the floating museum on Manhattan's West Side has the inside track in the fight to land one of NASA's iconic rockets.

"I believe we are in good shape," Schumer said. "It's not a done deal, but the arguments we have made about why the shuttle belongs in New York are resonating."

The Daily News has championed the cause of bringing a space shuttle to the Intrepid. More than 20 other institutions around the country are vying for Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis. The Smithsonian in the nation's capital is said to be the front-runner for Discovery.

Schumer said New York has stiff competition for the other shuttles from at least two other cities, which he refused to name.

NASA originally vowed to make a decision on the shuttles in July and now says it will decide by the end of the year.

NASA has set up some pretty stringent requirements for the institutions seeking the shuttles - including climate controlled facilities to ensure that the shuttles are properly conserved. That eliminates many museum facilities who don't have deep pockets or the access to deep pockets.

Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum On Short List For Landing Space Shuttle

With the decommissioning of the US space shuttle fleet only a few years away, who will land the rights to display the incomparable shuttles is a question that museums around the country are scrambling to answer.

The Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum in New York City is among the top candidates for one of the three surviving shuttles. Others include the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the Museum of Flight in Seattle, and NASA will make its decision in the next few months.

The Intrepid recently underwent a multi-year multimillion dollar overhaul and rebuilding of its pier. The Intrepid's collections include a retired Concorde, an A-12 (SR-71 Blackbird variant), and aircraft from World War II through the modern era.

This Space Shuttle Can Be Yours.... If the Price Is Right

When NASA eventually grounds its fleet of space shuttles, it intends to sell them off to museums and institutions around the country. One has been promised to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, but the other two are up for grabs.


At a bargain $28.8 million, the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum seems a natural fit. It already has two of the fastest aircraft in its collection - an A-12 (which is a sister to the more famous SR-71 Blackbird) and a Concorde. The shuttle would be a crown jewel for the collection.

The shuttle program has been estimated to have cost $170 billion over its lifetime (includes mission costs and equipment costs).

Shuttle Endeavor Hit By Falling Insulation During Launch

NASA announced that debris from the external tank may have caused some damage to the shuttle Endeavor following its launch from Kennedy Space Center yesterday.

Space shuttle Endeavour rocketed toward the international space station Thursday as engineers on Earth pored over launch pictures that showed debris breaking off the fuel tank and striking the craft.

Mission Control told the astronauts late Wednesday that the damage looked less extensive at first glance than what occurred on the last shuttle flight, but it will take days to sort through available data to reach a conclusion.

The astronauts planned a Thursday afternoon inspection of their ship's thermal shielding, using a 100-foot (30-meter) laser-tipped boom. The procedure has been standard since shuttle flights resumed after the Columbia accident.

Endeavour's liftoff early Wednesday evening was the sixth try and came more than a month late. It occurred on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the launch of man's first moon landing mission.

Here's the NASA feed from the launch. The damage appears to have been caused nearly 2 minutes into the flight near the time that the solid rocket boosters separated from the external tank.

There's no word on the extent of the damage, but NASA doesn't appear to be particularly concerned at the moment and believes that the damage to the heat tiles on the belly of the shuttle are not deep enough to be a concern. A more detailed examination of the shuttle will occur when it reaches the International Space Station where it will get a one-over to discern whether the shuttle was damaged to the point of being incapable of safely returning to Earth.

Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum Show Interest In Obtaining Shuttle For Collection

The Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum, which reopened with great fanfare late last year after a multi-year refurbishment, is now putting forth an effort to obtain one of the three remaining space shuttles for its extensive collection.

Museum officials have taken the first small step toward acquiring one of the three space shuttles that NASA plans to hand off when the shuttle program ends next year. They are enlisting support from elected officials and former astronauts for their idea of adding a decommissioned shuttle to the Intrepid’s eclectic collection of military aircraft, a Mercury space capsule, a submarine and a Concorde passenger jet.

They dream of housing the shuttle in a glass enclosure on the end of Pier 86 at 46th Street on the West Side of Manhattan, home to the Intrepid since 1982. But they have plenty of competition from museums around the country, including the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

“We have never shied away from competition or a challenge,” said Bill White, president of the foundation that operates the Intrepid museum. “This is very important to us, and it would just be an extraordinary, priceless treasure for New York City to receive. You’re going to see a very public campaign for this in the next few months.”

The Intrepid museum was one of 20 institutions that responded by a March 17 deadline to ask NASA about its plan to give away the last of the shuttles: Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis. The space agency estimates the cost of preparing and delivering them at $42 million each.

The Smithsonian has already notified NASA of its interest in the oldest of the shuttles, Discovery, but considers the cost prohibitive, said Michael J. Neufeld, chairman of the Smithsonian’s space history division. “Our official position is we don’t have the money to pay for the costs at all,” Dr. Neufeld said.

The Intrepid has shown the ability to raise vast sums of money, and that would be put to the test in order to obtain a shuttle for its collection, especially in the current economic climate.

However, the museum would greatly benefit from adding a shuttle to its collection as it would become one of the star attractions, alongside the Concorde, an A-12 (which many mistake for the SR-71 Blackbird), and the Intrepid herself.

Shuttle Atlantis Launch Footage

This is the last time that a space shuttle is expected to service the Hubble Space Telescope, so it has special significance. It's also among the riskiest missions that NASA has planned because if there's a problem with the shuttle that prevents it from returning to earth, NASA would have to send up another shuttle within days to rescue the stranded Atlantis.