The Top 3 Shuttle Destinations (with Suresh Atapattu 30th Anniversary Photo Gallery)

[Perriwen]

Considering Texas is now starting to boycott NYC until that worthless SOB apologizes for insulting Texas, either way there will be unhappy people. Now to mention ignorant SOB...some places in Houston are such an international hot spot that a PASSPORT is a primary form of ID over a driver's license.

At least NYC is getting a shuttle that never actually WENT into space. Enterprise is more of a glorified mock up that did a couple glides.

[moose135]

At least NYC is getting a shuttle that never actually WENT into space. Enterprise is more of a glorified mock up that did a couple glides.

Whatever you have to tell yourself to feel better...of course, if Enterprise went to Houston, you would be singing a different tune.

[Perriwen]

Yes AND no. Houston deserves something more than a couple seats and a full-scale glider certainly is more than a couple of seats. But, yes, New York got the short stick out of Oribters. Enterprise never had working engines, never had a heat shield, and never was capable of space flight from the start. So, you aren't getting a REAL shuttle as people seem to be singing, you're getting an early design and precursor TO the shuttle. I should also point out, having three shuttles on the east coast will cost the Intrepid visitors. Why go to the Intrepid to see a shuttle that never flew in space when a few short hours away is the real deal, Discovery, that actually flew into space and orbited the earth more than any other spacecraft, along with the Apollo 11 module that flew the first people who walked on the moon? Right in the same location.

Here's something to chew on. If the 'amount of people who will see it' and 'more people come to New York' is really a factor as claimed, how come New York didn't get one of the Apollo CSMs? A component of the Saturn V? A Gemini capsule, heck, even a Mercury Capsule? None of those are to be found in the state of New York, yet Houston has one of each capsule plus a whole Saturn V which was slated to be used for one of the Apollo missions. Does New York think it deserves those too, simply because 'more people will see it'? Or because 'the LEM was made in New York'? I don't know of any Apollo relics in New York save one unused LEM, so I don't see why people suddenly think that people will come from all over the world to see a 'spacecraft' that never actually went into space when NASA didn't think there was enough interest for a space craft that actually flew people to the moon and back! Even KENTUCKY got a Apollo CSM, and a famous one at that. With all the claims that people want to come to New York instead of Houston, and that 'the space program belongs to all of America', New York certainly lacks space memorabilia, and I don't know of any that it currently has that actually went INTO space. /rant.

Bottomline, if NASA didn't think a spacecraft that flew man to the moon and back would draw enough people in New York, if they didn't think one of the spacecraft that lifted man first into space would draw enough people, then I can fairly predict a space shuttle prototype won't do it either, despite the momentary hype.

On that note, people in New York are already crying about getting the 'fake shuttle'. And you talk about Houston being upset...

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011...tation-shuttle
http://gothamist.com/2011/04/13/intrepid_3.php

[PhilDernerJr]

After Houston's role in space, I must say that I feel that they were robbed and that NYC doesn't deserve one for the most part. I feel that the only reason it (and probably LA) did get one was because of the amount of people that go through these cities, giving access to see and enjoy said shuttles.

I am EMBARRASSED by the reactions of New Yorkers that say we got a "fake" shuttle. It's humiliating. I know that the people that say those things are Yankee fans. ;)

The Intrepid's role in space was VERY minimal. It picked up a some astronauts out of the sea during Apollo and has one mockup lunar module on display. For a place that has "space" in their name, they really don't have any space stuff. I'd also like to mention that even the Intrepid's SR-71 Blackbird is not even an SR-71. It's the A-12 trainer.

I'm also REALLY excited to see how much the Intrepid jacks up their already overpriced tickets.

With that Enterprise can hardly be called a mockup. I was actually a big fan of Enterprise for a long time, as I would watch the landing test videos which are among my favorite shuttle clips. The aircraft played a major role in its development. Check it out bouncing down the runway...



I can't believe they launched a mockup off of a 747 and let it land on its own like that! haha

[Perriwen]

Technically, you could call it a semi-functional mock-up. It never actually COULD fly into space without being completely being dismantled, and then re-assembled. It had no engines, no heat shield, the design wasn't correct for the final shuttle, not to mention I don't think it even had functional payload bay. All it could really do is glide, and you just need moving control surfaces for that. It was a 'space shuttle', but at the same time it wasn't really a space shuttle.

Then again, too, I grew up with the shuttle (born in 1986), so it was always natural to me. Literally, I grew up WITH the shuttle. In Louisiana is this small, unassuming town called Slidell where I grew up. Lil railroad town near New Orleans...but that was shuttle country. Just down from the street where I grew up, for a long time, was one of NASA's computer facilities. 30 minutes one way, in New Orleans, was the Lockheed facility where they built the big, orange external fuel tanks, coated them with foam, and shipped them via barge right to the VAB in Florida. 30 minutes the other way was the Stennis Space Center where they test fired every shuttle main engine before each flight. So...next time you see a shuttle launch, remember this small Louisiana town you probably never heard of, because a good chunk of the nameless people who helped keep it flying live there. Believe me..when something affected the shuttle like Columbia or Challenger, it was a BIG deal in the community since so many neighbors worked on it. Even now, they're a bit skiddish from what I hear, since so many jobs hang on the fate of Constellation.