Re: sorry about that my key board is acting up
- From: "Craig Cocca" <craigcocca@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 5 Aug 2005 06:48:41 -0700
Stephen,
Is it POSSIBLE that NASA could technically modify Enterprise to fly in
space? Yes.
Is it practical or cost effective, especially now that the sun is
setting on the STS program? No.
Originally, NASA had planned to modify Enterprise for spaceflight after
it completed the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) up at Dryden in the
1970s. However, NASA was also in the process of using several other
partial Orbiter airframes, called Static Test Articles (STA) to perform
vibration tests and fit checks in support of the overall program. One
of the STA's, known as STA-099, was in a position to be built up into a
space-worthy orbiter, whereas Enterprise would've required extensive
disassembly and modification. Thus, the decision was made to build up
STA-099 into OV-099 "Challenger" as a cost-saving measure.
Today, 28 years later, Enterprise is on display at the Smithsonian Air
and Space Museum, after spending several years sitting statically at
Dulles Airport. I would imagine that it would be an even bigger
project now to refit Enterprise for spaceflight, given the fact that it
hasn't see the light of an Orbiter Processing Facility in 25 years.
-Craig
.
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- sorry about that my key board is acting up
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