After Columbia's loss,they actually harvested part of the leading edge of Enterprise's wing for testing because it apparent does have all the accoutrements on the exterior. I guess you want your test article to be as realistic as possible.
It does have tiles, and you can see where they removed a section of the wing leading edge during the Columbia investigation.
KC-135 - Passing gas & taking names!
http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=15086
http://moose135.smugmug.com
I am not a rocket scientist, but I will be staying at a Holiday Inn during my visit....
I would think there was a grave concern that the ceramic tile is a porous material and rain/water would be absorbed into the tile structure. This would be come a problem as the shuttle enters space and the water either freezes, expanding and cracking the tiles; or the water boils off (again expansion) in the absence of any atmospheric pressure and could cause steam pops/fractures to the tiles.
I am hoping for sunny skies and warm temps so we do not have to worry about any of this on the 23rd!
Jeremy in Minnesota
My pictures on jp.net
Enterprise does not have a genuine TPS (silica tiles). The tiles are foam replicas. When Enterprise was rolled out for the ALT's the TPS was still being perfected, nor was it required for the ALT's. Had NASA stuck to the original plan and refitted Enterprise for space flight, the TPS would have been added as well engines etc....
You may recall seing pics of Columbia in 1979 being flown from Palmdale to KSC with hundreds of tiles missing. They were having difficulty with the glues among other things with the TPS and needed to get Columbia to KSC ASAP. So they sent her unfinished and completed the job at KSC when they got the bugs worked out. But those photos is what gave the public the perception that the tiles would start to fly off the shuttle if one got loose.
“Passengers should NEVER leave babies in an infant carrier while it goes through the X-ray machine"
--TSA.GOV website
Hi and the best wishes from Berlin Germany!
I/we fly next friday for shuttle arrival to JFK. "strange" ;-)
I have some question, does anybody knows the time of arrival or the expected runway?
Cheers and thanks for the help
Andre Oferta
10:30AM arrival
The three most common expressions in aviation are, "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" and "Oh Crap".
KC-135 - Passing gas & taking names!
http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=15086
http://moose135.smugmug.com
I use www.suncalc.net to check the position of the sun and when they really use RWY31L the Shuttle/NASA 747 have the sunlight on the butt " in germany we use the word buttlight"
It is possible to catch the shuttle on the turn to RWY31L ???
Or any other ideas?
Which position you prefer??
I/we would like to have perfect light conditions when the sun is shining!
Thanks again
Thanks Bill!
Since it is all about the logistics and the above post is very confusing for the out-town-guy. Will JFK be the best photo op? Sounds like the "butt-light" is not ideal for a 1030 arrival would LGA afford better photo ops? Either that or it is time to get a boat or "Taco-copter"?
Jeremy in Minnesota
My pictures on jp.net
definitely Taco Copter
I can't ****ing wait guys! I'll deal with butt light for this because with all the great info Bill hooked us up with, it doesn't say which rwy at LGA she will make her approach at. Plus I want to be in a spot where I can get tire smoke on touchdown so Bayswater it will be for me.
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