Space shuttle Enterprise suffered minor wing damage when it collided with guides for a New York railroad bridge -
Space shuttle Enterprise suffered minor wing damage on Sunday when it collided with the navigation guides for a New York railroad bridge during the first half of its sea trek to a Manhattan museum for display.
Mounted atop an open-air, flat-bed barge, Enterprise was on its way from John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York to Weeks Marine in Jersey City, N.J., when the accident occurred. The shuttle, NASA's prototype for its orbiter fleet, was making the first leg of its trip to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, a converted World War II aircraft carrier that is docked on Manhattan's west side.
The shuttle, which never flew in space but was used for a series of approach and landing tests in the late 1970s, was originally scheduled for delivery to the Intrepid on Tuesday but poor weather conditions have delayed its departure until at least Wednesday, the museum said in a statement posted to its website.
It wasn't weather but a different type of hurdle that slowed the shuttle's arrival in the Garden State on Sunday. The shuttle needed to pass under several waterway crossings to reach Jersey City, including the South Channel Subway Bridge, as well as the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial, Gil Hodges Memorial, and Verrazano-Narrows bridges. [ Final Voyage of Space Shuttle Enterprise (Photos) ]
"The railroad bridge and the Cross Bay Bridge, each presented challenges," said Dennis Jenkins, who was on board the barge with Enterprise. "The passage through the railroad bridge was narrow with only a few feet of clearance on each wingtip, while the Cross Bay was only a few feet higher than the vertical stabilizer," he wrote in an e-mail that was shared with collectSpace.
"Mother Nature did not smile on us. Just as the barge entered the railroad bridge, the wind caught it and pushed the right wing into the bridge abutment. Fortunately, the damage seems to be cosmetic, limited to the foam that covered the wingtip. No structure or mechanisms appear to have been damaged," Jenkins wrote.
Jenkins' photos of the damage, which were also shared with collectSpace.com, show Enterprise as it neared the bridge's navigation aid wooden bumpers. The shuttle's right wing scraped along the bridge barrier, which caused wood chunks to break away from the leading edge of Enterprise's elevon, or flap.
Read more -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47681590/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.T81JutUV0R8
Space shuttle Enterprise suffered minor wing damage on Sunday when it collided with the navigation guides for a New York railroad bridge during the first half of its sea trek to a Manhattan museum for display.
Mounted atop an open-air, flat-bed barge, Enterprise was on its way from John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York to Weeks Marine in Jersey City, N.J., when the accident occurred. The shuttle, NASA's prototype for its orbiter fleet, was making the first leg of its trip to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, a converted World War II aircraft carrier that is docked on Manhattan's west side.
The shuttle, which never flew in space but was used for a series of approach and landing tests in the late 1970s, was originally scheduled for delivery to the Intrepid on Tuesday but poor weather conditions have delayed its departure until at least Wednesday, the museum said in a statement posted to its website.
It wasn't weather but a different type of hurdle that slowed the shuttle's arrival in the Garden State on Sunday. The shuttle needed to pass under several waterway crossings to reach Jersey City, including the South Channel Subway Bridge, as well as the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial, Gil Hodges Memorial, and Verrazano-Narrows bridges. [ Final Voyage of Space Shuttle Enterprise (Photos) ]
"The railroad bridge and the Cross Bay Bridge, each presented challenges," said Dennis Jenkins, who was on board the barge with Enterprise. "The passage through the railroad bridge was narrow with only a few feet of clearance on each wingtip, while the Cross Bay was only a few feet higher than the vertical stabilizer," he wrote in an e-mail that was shared with collectSpace.
"Mother Nature did not smile on us. Just as the barge entered the railroad bridge, the wind caught it and pushed the right wing into the bridge abutment. Fortunately, the damage seems to be cosmetic, limited to the foam that covered the wingtip. No structure or mechanisms appear to have been damaged," Jenkins wrote.
Jenkins' photos of the damage, which were also shared with collectSpace.com, show Enterprise as it neared the bridge's navigation aid wooden bumpers. The shuttle's right wing scraped along the bridge barrier, which caused wood chunks to break away from the leading edge of Enterprise's elevon, or flap.
Read more -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47681590/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.T81JutUV0R8
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