New York Debut
The space shuttle Enterprise rides high over Manhattan Friday morning, gliding past the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum on the banks of the Hudson River below. The orbiter landed in New York City today on its way to becoming a part of the Intrepid's collection.
NASA's first space shuttle, Enterprise was used in the late 1970s to conduct a series of atmospheric test flights, which proved that the shuttles could safely glide back to Earth without engines. The orbiter never flew in space, and in 1985 it was retired and donated to the Smithsonian Institution.
(Also see the inside of the space shuttle Discovery in extreme detail.)
Until recently, Enterprise had been on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.
But following the completion of the space shuttle program last year, the Smithsonian agreed to swap Enterprise for the spacefaring shuttle Discovery, which took up permanent residence in the Udvar-Hazy Center last week. (See pictures: "Space Shuttle Discovery Rolls Into New Home.")
Space Shuttle Enterprise Arrives in New York City (Pictures)
NASA's first shuttle buzzed the Big Apple today on the way to its new home atop an aircraft carrier in the Hudson River.
