shuttle at ellington field

[derf]

Its not a mock up. The enterprise is ready for space flight, just add life support and engines. It was designed as a proof of concept for the atmospheric glider testing with the intention to upgrade it to full flight status later when the others were completed. But then the program went way over and poof money dissapeared. Its a real life space ship, that just never went there

[Adeptus_Minor]

So...when is the 'space plane' due out?

[LeeNetworX]

Originally Posted by Sean

South Florida, home to Cape Canaveral

Actually, it's central Florida. Think of it as the shaft of the Floripenis.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by LeeNetworX

Actually, it's central Florida. Think of it as the shaft of the Floripenis.

I think those of us not-from-there divide it into two: North and South. You guys with all your specificity. Sheesh!

Good point about the promotion, I guess NASA using it as an advertising vehicle (heh, pun) makes sense. Still, Houston is the 3rd largest city now.

I don't think Enterprise is a full ship, it was designed to test the glider aspect of the ship and did test landings. It doesn't have all the computers and it's an older version of the space frame.

[Homeslice]

In FL you've got the mostly-white, "true Southerner" North & panhandle (like everything from Ocala on up), and the glitzy, multi-cultural, overpriced South, stretchng from Miami to West Palm Beach. And in between those 2 extremes you've got.......a mix of weird stuff that can't be categorized

[LeeNetworX]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

In FL you've got the mostly-white, "true Southerner" North & panhandle (like everything from Ocala on up), and the glitzy, multi-cultural, overpriced South, stretchng from Miami to West Palm Beach. And in between those 2 extremes you've got.......a mix of weird stuff that can't be categorized

That's pretty much spot-on. Although most of the West coast of South Florida is pretty weird.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by LeeNetworX

That's pretty much spot-on. Although most of the West coast of South Florida is pretty weird.

Well, yeah. Ray Finkle grew up there, for pete's sake.

I just watched the shuttle fly over the Getty. So much awesome. So freakin' big! I mean, I knew it was big--it's a space ship bolted to the top of a 747 for pete's sake--but I was still blown away by the size.

[derf]

Originally Posted by Sean

I think those of us not-from-there divide it into two: North and South. You guys with all your specificity. Sheesh!

Good point about the promotion, I guess NASA using it as an advertising vehicle (heh, pun) makes sense. Still, Houston is the 3rd largest city now.

I don't think Enterprise is a full ship, it was designed to test the glider aspect of the ship and did test landings. It doesn't have all the computers and it's an older version of the space frame.

It was a full ship, ready for space flight, just needed engines and life support, it still had flight computers for testing in flight systems.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Enterprise

The Space Shuttle Enterprise (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-101) was the first Space Shuttle orbiter. It was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform test flights in the atmosphere.[1] It was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight. On September 17, 1976, the first full scale prototype was completed.[2]
Originally, Enterprise had been intended to be refitted for orbital flight, which would have made it the second space shuttle to fly after Columbia.[1] However, during the construction of Columbia, details of the final design changed, particularly with regard to the weight of the fuselage and wings. Refitting Enterprise for spaceflight would have involved dismantling the orbiter and returning the sections to subcontractors across the country. As this was an expensive proposition, it was determined to be less costly to build Challenger around a body frame (STA-099) that had been created as a test article.[1] Similarly, Enterprise was considered for refit to replace Challenger after the latter was destroyed, but Endeavour was built from structural spares instead.[1][3]

[Sean]

Right but they changed the design--it says so right in that thing you quoted. It's not the same.

[derf]

right but the design was changed after the fact, it was still designed to eventually fly in space, and had most of the finished systems for flight. Because of the cost involved they decided to build a whole new one instead