Post date: Jun 06, 2012 10:40:7 PM
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 6, 2012) (REUTERS) - The space shuttle Enterprise - named after the spaceship in Star Trek - floated up the Hudsond River, past the Empire State Building on a barge on Wednesday (June 6) before arriving at its new home at a museum on New York's Hudson River.
The space shuttle Enterprise makes a slow and stately journey up the Hudson River before being hoisted onto it's new home on the flight deck of the Intrepid aircraft carrier.
Crowds of people turned out to see the retired spacecraft make its final approach to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum where it will go on display atop a World War II aircraft carrier.
For a shuttle that never made it into space, Enterprise has had quite a journey. In April, hundreds of tourists and New Yorkers watched in awe as Enterprise flew over the city piggy-backed on a Boeing 747 Jumbo jet.
Enterprise drew more crowds on Wednesday on the banks of the Hudson to watch the NASA spacecraft make its final approach to its new floating home on Manhattan's west side.
"It is a great day for New York City," said Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator.
"We at Nasa have been transporting shuttles for quite a while but this is something now the city is doing and it's a unique challenge of a water delivery," added Garver.
Despite never flying in space, Enterprise holds a special place in American history having been the first of NASA's space shuttles. In 1977 it was released in mid-air from a Boeing 747 for a series of gliding and landing tests at Edwards Air Force base in California prior to the first shuttle flight in 1981.
Enterprise was originally going to be named Constitution in honor of the bicentennial of the U.S.
Constitution. But a fierce letter-writing campaign by Star Trek fans convinced the White House to rename it Enterprise after the fictitious spaceship that Captain Kirk and Mr Spock flew to the frontlines of an intergalactic battle with the Klingons on the popular TV show.
Experts say Enterprise captured the hearts and minds of many by embodying the best of American ingenuity.
In April last year NASA announced it would retire its space shuttle fleet to locations in New York, Virginia, California and Florida. It decided that Discovery would take Enterprise's place at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Virginia and that Enterprise would be brought to New York.
Since its joy-ride over the city in April, Enterprise has been kept in a protective de-icing tent at JFK International Airport. On Saturday, the 171,000-pound Enterprise was lifted by crane onto a barge, a process that took about three hours.
It toured Queens and Brooklyn on Sunday pulled by a tugboat, passing by Coney Island and traveling under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge before docking in Port Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Officials at Enterprise's new home, the Intrepid Museum, which itself is a repurposed former World War II aircraft carrier, expect the space shuttle to be a major attraction for years to come