BTW, I traded a couple emails with NASA PAO and they are planning another cabin visit for the media for Atlantis and Endeavour next year, date TBD.
:thumbsup:
Thanks for the heads up on this
Photo Gallery: NASA's Fla. visitor center clearing way for shuttle arrival
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-112911a.htmlConstruction workers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida began clearing a path Tuesday (Nov. 29) for the arrival of space shuttle Atlantis, which is slated to go on display there in 2013.
Photo Gallery: NASA's Fla. visitor center clearing way for shuttle arrival
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-112911a.html
Construction workers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida began clearing a path Tuesday (Nov. 29) for the arrival of space shuttle Atlantis, which is slated to go on display there in 2013.
Larger images on the KSC media page:
A large truck hauls a full-size, 149-foot-long, space shuttle solid rocket booster, or SRB, replica from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as the space-themed attraction makes way for a new exhibit featuring space shuttle Atlantis, which is currently undergoing preparations to go on public display. The SRB is being placed into temporary storage at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The SRB was part of a mockup of the external tank and two SRBs at the visitor complex that were used to show visitors the size of actual space shuttle components
http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=4I take it the ET/SRB's will be retained for the VC unlike the Explorer mockup, any idea where it will go?
I take it the ET/SRB's will be retained for the VC unlike the Explorer mockup, any idea where it will go?
Anywhere but Houston I'm sure.
We must be content with two chairs and a decommisioned metal walkway.
I take it the ET/SRB's will be retained for the VC unlike the Explorer mockup, any idea where it will go?
Anywhere but Houston I'm sure.
We must be content with two chairs and a decommissioned metal walkway.
Hey you get Explorer too.....
Anywhere but Houston I'm sure.
Among the potential recipients was Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas. They were unable to take the boosters and tank but will be receiving the next large item to move from Shuttle Plaza: a full-scale shuttle orbiter mockup...Space Center Houston is amassing quite the respectable collection of large shuttle items: the Explorer full-scale shuttle mockup; a crew compartment trainer; a Shuttle Training Aircraft; the White Room from Pad 39B...
Huh. News to me.
First reported and confirmed in October:
Space shuttles trading spaces in Houston, New York City and Los Angeles
I take it the ET/SRB's will be retained for the VC unlike the Explorer mockup, any idea where it will go?
answering my own question:
“At this point, we are taking them to a transfer and disposal area, and they may be moving somewhere else. It's still a mystery,” said Andrea Farmer from the KSC Visitor Complex.
Dont know if it will go anywhere else though once Atlantis is in place
http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2011/november/350909/Space-shuttle%E2%80%99s-external-tank-SRBs-on-the-move
If find the above comment Strange along with the news article. It has already been reported that Los Angeles is setting up Endevour with the Tank and the two SRB's. So my take on this is these assets are headed west.
Quote from Collect Space
"They are right now going to the [Kennedy Space Center's] transfer and disposal area," Farmer said. "I believe they may ultimately be given to another location."
And from the Endevour Deservicing and Retirement Updates thread
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25399.msg819842#msg819842
Anywhere but Houston I'm sure.
Among the potential recipients was Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas. They were unable to take the boosters and tank but will be receiving the next large item to move from Shuttle Plaza: a full-scale shuttle orbiter mockup...
Space Center Houston is amassing quite the respectable collection of large shuttle items: the Explorer full-scale shuttle mockup; a crew compartment trainer; a Shuttle Training Aircraft; the White Room from Pad 39B...
Huh. News to me.
First reported and confirmed in October: Space shuttles trading spaces in Houston, New York City and Los Angeles
I tend to not keep up with where all "the artifacts" are supposedly going because they still had plenty of life left in them. And given our current situation......
If find the above comment Strange along with the news article. It has already been reported that Los Angeles is setting up Endevour with the Tank and the two SRB's. So my take on this is these assets are headed west.
Quote from Collect Space
"They are right now going to the [Kennedy Space Center's] transfer and disposal area," Farmer said. "I believe they may ultimately be given to another location."
This display is set up for display horizontally, and would probably need major modification, plus the huge size of the ET and full SRBs would require significant transport, the VAFB tanks needed to go through the panama canal on the ET barge...
If find the above comment Strange along with the news article. It has already been reported that Los Angeles is setting up Endevour with the Tank and the two SRB's. So my take on this is these assets are headed west.
Quote from Collect Space
"They are right now going to the [Kennedy Space Center's] transfer and disposal area," Farmer said. "I believe they may ultimately be given to another location."
This display is set up for display horizontally, and would probably need major modification, plus the huge size of the ET and full SRBs would require significant transport, the VAFB tanks needed to go through the panama canal on the ET barge...
from the Endevour Deservicing and Retirement Updates thread
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25399.msg819842#msg819842QUOTE:
"You know they're going to display this in the vertical with solid rocket boosters and an external tank. It is going to be an incredible exhibit if that all comes to fruition," said STS-134 commander Mark Kelly."
from the Endevour Deservicing and Retirement Updates thread
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25399.msg819842#msg819842
QUOTE:
"You know they're going to display this in the vertical with solid rocket boosters and an external tank. It is going to be an incredible exhibit if that all comes to fruition," said STS-134 commander Mark Kelly."
That is not this display, again this one would need significant modifications to be shown in the vertical as the replica parts were designed to be shown in the horizontal position. I Doubt the replica aft skirt was built to support any significant amount of weight like a real aft skirt.
From SpaceKSCBlog over at collectspace:
The ET and SRBs are in temporary storage at the transfer yard on Space Commerce Road at Ransom Road. I shot a photo this morning of the items in storage.
http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum41/HTML/000412.html
Are those things mockups or real hardware? Meaning, for example, the booster casings are steel? Aft skirts? The tank is real aluminum alloy? Or is it something else (wood, cheap steel)? I've always wondered what exactly they were made of. I don't recall seeing attach struts or feedlines on that ET.
From SpaceKSCBlog over at collectspace:
The ET and SRBs are in temporary storage at the transfer yard on Space Commerce Road at Ransom Road. I shot a photo this morning of the items in storage.
http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum41/HTML/000412.html
Are those things mockups or real hardware? Meaning, for example, the booster casings are steel? Aft skirts? The tank is real aluminum alloy? Or is it something else (wood, cheap steel)? I've always wondered what exactly they were made of. I don't recall seeing attach struts or feedlines on that ET.
My recollection is that the external tank was one of three ground test articles built in 1977. Originally painted white, this tank was apparently used at Marshall Space Flight Center for testing during the 1978-79 time frame. It may have been a structural test article.
The tank was moved from MSFC to Stennis Space Center for display purposes in 1990. In 1997, the KSC Visitors Center acquired the tank. And now, in 2011, it may be moving on. It would be a shame if KSC did not have a tank to display, since it would exhibit the size of objects handled in the VAB.
The origin of the SRBs in this display is less certain. At one time I thought that parts from the cancelled Advanced Solid Rocket Motor program may have ended up in there, but I'm not sure.
Insulating foam was never applied to this tank, which is a good thing. The tank in Huntsville has suffered from moisture accumulating in and behind the insulation.
- Ed Kyle
Will this mock up tank get the ET/ orbiter attach struts and other hardware?
I noticed in the KSC photos you see streaks of dirt from rain on the ET and SRBs.
I was also curious if the ET will get a new paint design so the color matches the real thing? The bands the encircle the intertank LO2/LH2 flanges for example are lighter in color than the main color of the tank. The foam filled areas could be replicated using metal or plastic. The aerodynamic foam ramps at the base of the LH2 part of the ET/ orbiter struts, the flanges as I mentioned before. A water proof rubber spray on seal could be molded and painted to match.
The left SRB could use that black band that goes on the forward skirt. Little things like this to match the real thing.
Will this ET/SRB stack get an orbiter to carry?
