USS Intrepid Museum lands Space Shuttle Enterprise

[grumpyff 1,159]

NASA announced today which museums have won the selections to house and display the space shuttles upon their retirement. The Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101) currently on display in the Smithsonian will be moved to the Intrepid Sea, Air, Space Museum in New York City. The other remaining shuttles are going to Los Angeles ( Endeavor), Kennnedy Space Center (Atlantis), and The Smithsonian in Virgina (Discovery). While never flown in space, Enterprise was used for glide/flight testing. Enterprise will be housed in a clear dome across the pier from the USS Intrepid (CV-11)

http://www.socaltech.com/la_to_get_space_shuttle_endeavor/s-0035076.html

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/EnterpriseLandsatIntrepid.aspx

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

While I would have liked to see one of the three orbiters come to NY, I am delighted by this news.

[nycemt728 49]

Ok so it didn't fly in space but's damn important. It was the prototype for all the others...and still continued to serve long after she was a museum piece. After the Columbia disaster, a piece of her wing tile was used as a research aide to help discover the problem.

That being said, the Intrepid has a pretty poor record of maintaining things...I hope they step up to the plate. Anyone who doubts that can look at the airplane collection that has only just recently begun to be stabilized and repaired or the huge amounts of graffitti on the interior of the Concorde. I sure hope the government signed a good contract stipulating the care and if necessary a repossesion clause.