6/2/2023 0 Comments Space shuttle enterprise![]() “It was like you were in an airplane but you had no control-you were just along for the ride.” After a few initial “captive” runs, when the Shuttle remained atop the carrier, the Enterprise was ready for the next phase of testing: free flight. ![]() “Sitting in the Enterprise cockpit, you couldn’t see any part of the 747 you couldn’t see the nose or the wings below you,” remembers Truly. I was in the right seat flying with Joe.”ĭuring tests, a Boeing 747-similar to the one that ferried the craft up the Eastern Seaboard in April-lifted the Enterprise into the sky. The commander sits on the left and the pilot sits on the right. “Up on the flight deck, there are two ejection seats and instruments to fly the airplane in front of each. “Structurally, it’s exactly like the ones that went into orbit,” says Truly. Attendees will be able to watch NASA robotics demonstrations, learn about travel to Mars, catch a free screening of 2009’s Star Trek on the flight deck (Fri 20 at 7:30pm), and meet current and former astronauts, including three of the four original team members who flew Enterprise: pilot Richard Truly and commanders Joe Engle and Fred Haise.Īlthough the Enterprise wasn’t designed to go into space (it lacked the rocket engines needed to fly beyond the atmosphere), it allowed NASA to try out the design’s functionality, such as its ability to land safely, before sending astronauts into an orbital flight. In honor of the exhibit’s unveiling, the museum is hosting four days of Shuttle-themed programming, dubbed SpaceFest (July 19–Sun 22 10am–7pm July 20 10am–5pm). Meanwhile, multimedia displays, images and artifacts will tell the story of space exploration and the Enterprise’s role in it. ![]() Visitors will get to walk close to and under the 180-foot-long, six-story Shuttle, the wingspan of which is more than 70 feet (the interior, sadly, is off-limits). Now, that prototype-which never left the Earth’s atmosphere but blazed the way for three decades of extraterrestrial travel-will open to the public on Thursday 19 in a specially designed pavilion on the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. In 1977, NASA conducted a series of tests on a new type of craft: the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
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