![]() ![]() The avionics and engines were also upgraded.Īn internal escape slide was added behind the flight deck in case of catastrophic failure mid-flight. Vertical stabilizers were added to the tail to improve stability when the Orbiter was being carried. With the Shuttle riding on top, the center of gravity was altered. Mounting struts were added on top of the 747, located to match the fittings on the Shuttle that attach it to the external fuel tank for launch. While first-class seats were kept for NASA passengers, its main cabin and insulation were stripped, and the fuselage was strengthened. The aircraft was extensively modified for NASA by Boeing in 1976. It was acquired in 1974 and initially used for trailing wake vortex research as part of a broader study by NASA Dryden, as well as Shuttle tests involving an F-104 flying in close formation and simulating a release from the 747. Upon testing, it still wore the visible American cheatlines while testing Enterprise in the 1970s. ![]() With a decline in air traffic and failure to fill their 747s, American Airlines sold it to NASA. The first aircraft, a Boeing 747–123 registered N905NA, was originally manufactured for American Airlines. Museum officials have pledged to replant double the number of chopped trees.Shuttle Carrier Aircraft N905NA, in American Airlines livery, with Enterprise in 1978 Some 400 trees will be cleared along the 12-mile route to make room, a move that has riled some residents in affected neighborhoods. Unlike Atlantis, it will creep through city streets to the California Science Center near downtown. Atlantis, which closed out the shuttle program, will stay in Florida where it will be towed a short distance to the Kennedy Space Center's visitor center in the fall.Įndeavour will remain at an airport hangar for several weeks as crews ready the shuttle for its own road trip. In April, Discovery arrived at the Smithsonian Institution's hangar in Virginia. Under White House orders to explore beyond low-Earth orbit, NASA is hitching rides on Russian rockets to the orbiting laboratory until private companies can provide regular service.Įndeavour is the second of three remaining shuttles to head to its retirement home. But most of its flights ferried cargo and equipment to the International Space Station, which is near completion. It also flew the first repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope to fix a faulty mirror. In its maiden flight in 1992, a trio of spacewalking astronauts grabbed a stranded communications satellite in for repair. Fourteen astronauts were killed.ĭuring 25 missions, Endeavour spent 299 days in space and orbited Earth nearly 4,700 times, racking up 123 million miles. NASA lost another shuttle, Columbia, in 2003 when it disintegrated during re-entry. The youngest shuttle, Endeavour replaced Challenger, which blew up during liftoff in 1986. 'We're so excited to be welcoming Endeavour home in grand style with these flyovers,' Jeffrey Rudolph, president of the California Science Center, said earlier this week.Ĭruise control: Endeavour glides effortlessly toward its final stop The military outpost 100 miles north of Los Angeles served as the original shuttle landing strip and remained a backup site in case of stormy weather at Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA's shuttle fleet, which retired last year after three decades of flight, was assembled in Palmdale near Edwards Air Force Base. Giffords, who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, was 'hooting and hollering' as Endeavour looped around her hometown, according to her former aide C.J. ![]() 'But if you're driving, please drive and don't try to take in the show simultaneously.'Įxtra officers will be on duty along the freeways near the airport to make sure traffic flows smoothly as the shuttle zooms overhead.Įndeavour returned to its birthplace Thursday after an emotional cross-country ferry flight that made a special flyover of Tucson, Ariz., to honor its last commander, Mark Kelly, and his wife, former Arizona Rep. ' We want people to take in this majestic show,' Los Angeles police Cmdr. Since Endeavour will buzz by some of the Golden State's most iconic sights, law enforcement and transportation authorities warned motorists not to 'gawk and drive.' A perfect day to fly: There was barely a cloud in the sky as Endeavour cruised over San Francisco ![]()
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