Discovery's final flight. (Photos)

[peter]

There was mention of her windows being covered but in the pictures they clearly are not..

[gflinch]

I hope they don't "restore" it to new, the use this machine has on it shows. I like to see some dirt and wear on museum pieces, to me it all tells a story. Its the same sanding down a bat that Babe Ruth used, just to clean it up, you clean the story right out of it.

Greg

[RMAllnutt]

I hope they don't "restore" it to new, the use this machine has on it shows. I like to see some dirt and wear on museum pieces, to me it all tells a story. Its the same sanding down a bat that Babe Ruth used, just to clean it up, you clean the story right out of it.

Greg

Don't worry... they are leaving her more or less exactly as she is. I imagine that they will inspect her to make sure there are no potential future corrosion spots and the like, but the intent is to leave her looking like an actual active spacecraft. I love that they are doing this too!

Cheers,
Richard

[RMAllnutt]

Ok, here is a question for everyone. How do they get the shuttle off the 747 there at Udvar Hazy? I know in Florida they have a hoist built just for this heavy task but I assume a similar hoist is not in place there at the NASM.

They will use the same set up as planned if a Shuttle ever had to land off the two official landing sites. Basically, they will attach a massive steel truss to four attachment points on the fuselage, in much the same manner as at Kennedy and Edwards. However, instead of the dedicated lifting platform, they will use two cranes to do the heavy work of getting Discovery off, and Enterprise on the 747. I hope that answers your question adequately.

Cheers,
Richard

[fritzthefox]

Awesome photos! Envy, envy, envy...

Here's a recent picture of Discovery on an older flight, a little more than three years ago:



Visit http://www.fritzthefox.com/spacebat_watch.html to see the whole cartoon

Does anyone know when the crew simulator goes on display at Wright-Patt?

[TAdan]

Just found this article with a good picture of how the Shuttle is removed from the 747...

http://m.gizmodo.com/5903236/separating ... -it-sounds

[wingman1]

does anyone have pic's of today with Discovery and Enterprise nose to nose from today?

[Garth]

does anyone have pic's of today with Discovery and Enterprise nose to nose from today?

Here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphot ... 597600089/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/7093966947/

[StudeDave]

and a few here~

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?61007-For-those-who-couldn-t-be-there-to-see-it.......&p=639490#post639490

Last edited by StudeDave on Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[MichiganRick]

Super cool pictures, thanks for sharing & posting

[wingman1]

thanks for sharing. i just wish i could get one to show up here.

[Anthony Svihlik]

Does anyone know when the crew simulator goes on display at Wright-Patt?

Scheduled to arrive this summer:

Retired NASA Space Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer to arrive this summer at National Museum USAF

Anthony