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Shuttle News

Hurricane Damages Bubble Protecting Shuttle Enterprise

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
October 30, 2012
Filed under , ,

Space Shuttle Exhibit Collapses After Sandy (Photo), CNN
“The space shuttle exhibit on the Intrepid, normally a giant grey bubble from the outside, has completely collapsed due to Sandy.”
Keith’s note: This Instagram picture shows another view of the damage to the bubble that surrounded Enterprise. The museum’s live webcam (which stopped updating before the storm hit) shows the bubble before it was destroyed.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

15 responses to “Hurricane Damages Bubble Protecting Shuttle Enterprise”

  1. OrbitalMechanic says:
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    The top of the vertical tail (above the rudder) appears to be missing.

    • George says:
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      It does look a lot different than the tail on Endeavour that I saw a few weeks back.  I hope they can find the piece (s).

  2. John Gardi says:
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    Folks:

    Seems folks planned for the Shuttles afterlives as badly as for their replacement. Only the Smithsonian had a place ready for Discovery (and only because Enterprise vacated it’s spot for her). The rest only have temporary digs. Now Enterprise is homeless (a sorry state for a national hero to be in).

    tinker

    • kcowing says:
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      As I recall Enterprise was damaged – or almost damaged – a number of years back when the hangar she was parked in at Dulles sustained some winter storm damage.

    • George says:
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      In August, I was in the permanent building in Oregon (close to Portland) that the Evergreen folks built hoping to get custody of Enterprise.  Same museum that houses the Spruce Goose.  Needless to say – the folks that planned for (and built a home for) Enterprise were a bit “disappointed.”  I suspect they are even a bit sadder today.

  3. bobhudson54 says:
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    I’m not surprised this has happened. The New York area is a prime target for hurricanes and to house a monument such as The Enterprise under a plastic tarp was practically asking for disaster.even the planes being exhibited on the surrounding deck area suffered some damage.If this was an active aircraft carrier, the planes would’ve been moved below deck but since The Intrepid is now a museum and packed with aircraft both on and below deck is subject to adverse weather conditions.
    Now The Enterprise sits exposed and damaged to the elements and will probably remain as is until another cover can be constructed.Sorry New York but that doesn’t cut it. You did an injustice by doing “the cheap” to a historical artifact and its damaged. I say give it back to NASA and let them move it to another deserving place for its exhibition. It doesn’t belong being improperly exhibited.

    • Nassau Goi says:
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       As long as it’s not Houston, it should be fine. The Saturn 5 out there was rusting and covered in bird dropping for decades before they built a shed over it. The Shuttle mockup they have now is exposed to the elements as well.

      • John Rollf says:
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        The Saturn 5 is owned by the Smithsonian (not Space Center Houston, or Johnson Space Center), they refused to spend the money to cover it up until it was rusting into the ground.  It sits on federal government property, the city of Houston has no control over the care of the Saturn 5, you really can’t blame it’s condition on Houston. 

        And the Shuttle Mockup, it came from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it already has spent decades outside….

        Space Center Houston had plans to build a building specifically for the Space Shuttle on city owned land where the city could take care of it, but New York got it instead.

        • George says:
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          And the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in Oregon had a building completed 4 years ago that was specifically designed for Enterprise.  When I was in the building this summer, I noticed the VERY large doors on one side.  I found a Docent that happened to have retired from the Museum as the Operations Manager, and he explained why the door was so big.

          Seems to me that is a lot better than “plans” for a building some time in the future.  I sure hope the folks in New York can get it together to take care of Enterprise.

    • kcowing says:
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      Newsflash: NY is not a “prime target” for hurricanes.  They strike there rather infrequently compared with cities such as Houston. And Houston let their SaturnV rot for decades before being shamed into doing something about it. Same goes for Huntsville and their Saturn V and Skylab trainer.

      • ASFalcon13 says:
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        Who said anything about Houston? Didn’t the Museum of Flight in Seattle already have a building purpose-built and ready to go?

  4. Odyssey2020 says:
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    Wait a second, isn’t this just the Enterprise (NOT Space) Shuttle? It never went into space and was just a trainer. 

    Still, they couldn’t have wrapped it up better than putting an oversized baloon over it? Enterprise almost had a Buran ending, wouldn’t that have been something?  http://www.buran.ru/images/

    • Steve Pemberton says:
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      Generally speaking I would say that any vehicle that was displayed at the Smithsonian for nearly a decade is valuable.

      Enterprise was not a trainer it was a flight test vehicle used in the very important approach and landing tests.  It was intended that after completing atmospheric tests for the program Enterprise would be outfitted with TPS, engines etc. and become part of the orbiter fleet. However due to Shuttle design changes that occurred after Enterprise was built it was decided that modifying Enterprise would be too expensive and so it was retired after completing the atmospheric test flights.

      Obviously Enterprise will never have the same status as an orbiter that flew in space, but it is still a very significant artifact of the Space Shuttle program.

      Good point about Buran.  Sobering photos.  I guess we should be happy that barring any future mishaps Enterprise will eventually be in a nice permanent display.

  5. TimR says:
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    Pretty pitiful indeed!!! I thought Intrepid was a shabby place for any Shuttle. They are planning some pavilion on dry land but to put it at the end of its run way, its crappy, “stuff”, even as a temporary placement. The vertical stabilizer was damaged in the storm and they damaged a wing tip on the barge trip to Intrepid. NYC functions in denominations of Billions of Dollars and they can’t do better? In the mean time, why doesn’t Boris just Walsh over some night with a barge and take it back to the Soviet Union, oh yeah, Russia!

  6. Patrick Judd says:
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    Color me astonished, that this flimsy bubble was the only defense against the elements for this national treasure. The USAF museum in Dayton could have kept it much more safe. I keep forgetting that everything not on the coasts is merely “flyover country”