14 DAY TRIAL // The test shuttle Enterprise – which never actually flew to space – has been mated with the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) 905, at the Washington Dulles International Airport, in Virginia. The orbiter is scheduled to be transported to New York next week.
While Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis were in active duty, Enterprise was displayed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
However, with the end of the Space Shuttle Program, in 2011, NASA decided to send Discovery to the Smithsonian, to become a permanent exhibit. Enterprise was therefore offered to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, in New York City.
Located at Pier 86, in Manhattan, the museum is in fact a decommissioned aircraft carrier. Officials there expressed their interest in housing an orbiter, even if Enterprise only flew in Earth's atmosphere.
On April 17, SCA 905 departed the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, carrying Discovery, the most-flown of the three remaining shuttles. After flying over the US Capitol, in Washington DC, it landed at WDIA, where Enterprise was already waiting.
This allowed about 6,000 onlookers the extremely rare opportunity of seeing two space shuttles nose-to-nose. After Discovery was officially handed over to the Smithsonian, engineers began the complex mechanical ballet necessary to attach Enterprise to SCA 905, Space reports.
The plan was to fly the two aircraft to the NYC John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport on Monday, April 23. However, the flight was “postponed until further notice due to unfavorable weather forecast,” according to Intrepid officials.
As an interesting side-note, the mating between Enterprise and SCA 905 represents the first time the two aircraft are together in 27 years. The last time they flew together was on November 18, 1985.
After SCA 905 completes this flight, it will have only one more mission remaining – to deliver the shuttle Endeavour to the California Science Center, near Los Angeles, in September. The aircraft will then be retired from active duty.
NASA had two SCA at first, 905 and 911. The latter was retired this February, after 38 years of service and 33,004 hours of flight. These aircraft were responsible for carrying the shuttles around the country in special cases, such as when the spacecraft landed in California, rather than Florida.
As for the shuttle Atlantis, its permanent home will be a new building being constructed at the KSC Visitors Center.