![]() ![]() (Image credit: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex) The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's design concept for displaying a retired space shuttle orbiter. Air Force in Ohio the Museum of Flight in Seattle and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. They include the visitor center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston the visitor center at KSC the National Museum of the U.S. When they've come back down to Earth, both vehicles will become museum pieces, just like Discovery.Īnd they'll be hotly contested, as historic and essentially intact artifacts of a proud and accomplished American spaceflight program.Ĭounting the Smithsonian, NASA has said that 29 different museums are in the running to house Discovery, Endeavour, Atlantis and Enterprise (which will likely be up for grabs when Discovery displaces it).Īssuming the Smithsonian gets Discovery, a handful of front-runners have emerged for the other three shuttles, Pearlman said. The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch April 19 on its last mission, and Atlantis' swan song will close out NASA's shuttle program in July. It will replace the vehicle already there - the space shuttle Enterprise, a protoype that underwent some glide tests but never made it to space. ![]() Udvar-Hazy Center, an arm of the Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Va. The shuttle will actually take up residence in the Stephen F. When Discovery is ready to go, it will be loaded onto the back of a 747 jumbo jet and - if the Smithsonian is indeed the destination - flown up to the Washington area. "Charlie Bolden makes the decision, and right now he's not saying," Pearlman said. On that day - the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 flight (the first human spaceflight), and the 30th anniversary of the maiden space shuttle launch - the fates of Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis will be sealed. ![]() The space agency promised Discovery to the Smithsonian in 2008, but nothing is official until NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden makes an announcement on April 12. "An average visitor to a museum won't be able to tell it's not an intact orbiter," Pearlman told .Īfter Discovery is re-assembled, all that remains is a trip to its new home - presumably the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. NASA will keep the original flight engines, which could be useful references in the design or testing of new equipment, Pearlman said.īut most people probably won't notice the swap-out. When that job is done, the parts will be reattached to Discovery at KSC - though the main engines will be replicas, Beutel said. "That process will take months," Beutel said. Those sections will be sent to NASA's White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico for a thorough cleaning. "You don't want a situation where, 10, 20 or 30 years from now, hazardous materials start outgassing, and tourists start passing out," said Robert Pearlman, editor of, a website for space history enthusiasts and a partner.Įngineers will remove the thruster system inside Discovery's nose and the big engines on either side of its tail, Beutel said. NASA engineers will put the shuttle through a meticulous decontamination process, making sure it's free of any toxic residue left behind by its hydrazine rocket propellant. The first few weeks following Discovery's final spaceflight will be much like the aftermath of any other shuttle mission, with technicians unloading tools and supplies, Beutel said.īut when that's done, the real - and unprecedented - work of turning Discovery into a museum specimen begins. The space agency plans to unveil the final destinations for Discovery and its sister ships Endeavour and Atlantis on April 12 - the 30th anniversary of the shuttle program's first flight. While Discovery is expected to go to the Smithsonian, there are about 29 museums currently competing for NASA's three space-flown shuttles, as well as Enterprise - a shuttle prototype used for landing tests, but which never flew in space. It has flown the most missions (39 flights), traveled the farthest (148 million miles) and carried the most astronauts (246 crew members) during its storied 27-year spaceflight career. Discovery is the first of NASA's three flying space shuttles to retire, and the most prolific of the trio.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |