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Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Space exhibit panorama (Space Shuttle Enterprise)
Image by Chris Devers
See a lot more photos of this, and the Wikipedia report.
Specifics, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Space Shuttle Enterprise:
Manufacturer:
Rockwell International Corporation
Nation of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
All round: 57 ft. tall x 122 ft. extended x 78 ft. wing span, 150,000 lb.
(1737.36 x 3718.57 x 2377.44cm, 68039.6kg)
Components:
Aluminum airframe and physique with some fiberglass features payload bay doors are graphite epoxy composite thermal tiles are simulated (polyurethane foam) except for test samples of actual tiles and thermal blankets.
The first Space Shuttle orbiter, "Enterprise," is a full-scale test vehicle utilised for flights in the atmosphere and tests on the ground it is not equipped for spaceflight. Though the airframe and flight manage components are like these of the Shuttles flown in space, this car has no propulsion method and only simulated thermal tiles since these characteristics had been not required for atmospheric and ground tests. "Enterprise" was rolled out at Rockwell International’s assembly facility in Palmdale, California, in 1976. In 1977, it entered service for a nine-month-lengthy method-and-landing test flight system. Thereafter it was used for vibration tests and fit checks at NASA centers, and it also appeared in the 1983 Paris Air Show and the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans. In 1985, NASA transferred "Enterprise" to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.
Transferred from National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• • •
Quoting from Wikipedia | Space Shuttle Enterprise:
The Space Shuttle Enterprise (NASA Orbiter Automobile Designation: OV-101) was the initial Space Shuttle orbiter. It was constructed for NASA as element of the Space Shuttle plan to execute test flights in the atmosphere. It was constructed with no engines or a functional heat shield, and was for that reason not capable of spaceflight.
Initially, Enterprise had been intended to be refitted for orbital flight, which would have made it the second space shuttle to fly soon after Columbia. Nonetheless, during the building of Columbia, details of the final style 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 high-priced proposition, it was determined to be less pricey to build Challenger around a physique frame (STA-099) that had been produced as a test post. Similarly, Enterprise was considered for refit to replace Challenger after the latter was destroyed, but Endeavour was built from structural spares alternatively.
Service
Construction started on the 1st orbiter on June four, 1974. Designated OV-101, it was initially planned to be named Constitution and unveiled on Constitution Day, September 17, 1976. A write-in campaign by Trekkies to President Gerald Ford asked that the orbiter be named following the Starship Enterprise, featured on the tv show Star Trek. Even though Ford did not mention the campaign, the president—who during World War II had served on the aircraft carrier USS Monterey (CVL-26) that served with USS Enterprise (CV-six)—said that he was "partial to the name" and overrode NASA officials.
The design of OV-101 was not the same as that planned for OV-102, the initial flight model the tail was constructed differently, and it did not have the interfaces to mount OMS pods. A large number of subsystems—ranging from major engines to radar equipment—were not installed on this car, but the capacity to add them in the future was retained. As an alternative of a thermal protection method, its surface was primarily fiberglass.
In mid-1976, the orbiter was used for ground vibration tests, permitting engineers to evaluate data from an actual flight automobile with theoretical models.
On September 17, 1976, Enterprise was rolled out of Rockwell’s plant at Palmdale, California. In recognition of its fictional namesake, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and most of the principal cast of the original series of Star Trek were on hand at the dedication ceremony.
Strategy and landing tests (ALT)
Principal write-up: Method and Landing Tests
On January 31, 1977, it was taken by road to Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, to commence operational testing.
Whilst at NASA Dryden, Enterprise was utilised by NASA for a variety of ground and flight tests intended to validate elements of the shuttle system. The initial nine-month testing period was referred to by the acronym ALT, for "Approach and Landing Test". These tests incorporated a maiden "flight" on February 18, 1977 atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) to measure structural loads and ground handling and braking qualities of the mated technique. Ground tests of all orbiter subsystems had been carried out to verify functionality prior to atmospheric flight.
The mated Enterprise/SCA combination was then subjected to five test flights with Enterprise unmanned and unactivated. The purpose of these test flights was to measure the flight qualities of the mated mixture. These tests were followed with three test flights with Enterprise manned to test the shuttle flight control systems.
Enterprise underwent 5 totally free flights where the craft separated from the SCA and was landed below astronaut control. These tests verified the flight qualities of the orbiter style and had been carried out beneath several aerodynamic and weight configurations. On the fifth and final glider flight, pilot-induced oscillation problems had been revealed, which had to be addressed prior to the 1st orbital launch occurred.
On August 12, 1977, the space shuttle Enterprise flew on its own for the initial time.
Preparation for STS-1
Following the ALT program, Enterprise was ferried among numerous NASA facilities to configure the craft for vibration testing. In June 1979, it was mated with an external tank and strong rocket boosters (identified as a boilerplate configuration) and tested in a launch configuration at Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A.
Retirement
With the completion of critical testing, Enterprise was partially disassembled to let specific elements to be reused in other shuttles, then underwent an international tour going to France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S. states of California, Alabama, and Louisiana (throughout the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition). It was also utilized to match-verify the never ever-used shuttle launch pad at Vandenberg AFB, California. Ultimately, on November 18, 1985, Enterprise was ferried to Washington, D.C., where it became home of the Smithsonian Institution.
Post-Challenger
Right after the Challenger disaster, NASA regarded as employing Enterprise as a replacement. Nonetheless refitting the shuttle with all of the needed gear necessary for it to be utilised in space was considered, but alternatively it was decided to use spares constructed at the identical time as Discovery and Atlantis to construct Endeavour.
Post-Columbia
In 2003, right after the breakup of Columbia for the duration of re-entry, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board carried out tests at Southwest Investigation Institute, which used an air gun to shoot foam blocks of similar size, mass and speed to that which struck Columbia at a test structure which mechanically replicated the orbiter wing leading edge. They removed a fiberglass panel from Enterprise’s wing to carry out analysis of the material and attached it to the test structure, then shot a foam block at it. Whilst the panel was not broken as a result of the test, the influence was sufficient to permanently deform a seal. As the reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panel on Columbia was 2.five times weaker, this suggested that the RCC major edge would have been shattered. Further tests on the fiberglass have been canceled in order not to danger damaging the test apparatus, and a panel from Discovery was tested to establish the effects of the foam on a similarly-aged RCC top edge. On July 7, 2003, a foam effect test developed a hole 41 cm by 42.5 cm (16.1 inches by 16.7 inches) in the protective RCC panel. The tests clearly demonstrated that a foam influence of the variety Columbia sustained could seriously breach the protective RCC panels on the wing major edge.
The board determined that the probable trigger of the accident was that the foam impact caused a breach of a reinforced carbon-carbon panel along the top edge of Columbia’s left wing, permitting hot gases generated in the course of re-entry to enter the wing and cause structural collapse. This brought on Columbia to spin out of manage, breaking up with the loss of the whole crew.
Museum exhibit
Enterprise was stored at the Smithsonian’s hangar at Washington Dulles International Airport just before it was restored and moved to the newly constructed Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum‘s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport, where it has been the centerpiece of the space collection. On April 12, 2011, NASA announced that Space Shuttle Discovery, the most traveled orbiter in the fleet, will be added to the collection after the Shuttle fleet is retired. When that takes place, Enterprise will be moved to the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City, to a newly constructed hangar adjacent to the museum. In preparation for the anticipated relocation, engineers evaluated the automobile in early 2010 and determined that it was safe to fly on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft once again.
Korean War Memorial
Image by StarrGazr
From 1950 to 1953, the United States joined with the United Nations forces in Korea to take a stand against what was deemed a threat to democratic nations worldwide. At war’s end, a million and a half American veterans returned to a peacetime planet of households, houses, and jobs – and to a country long reluctant to view the Korean War as anything to memorialize. But to the men and females who served, the Korean War could never ever be a forgotten war.
The passing of more than four decades has brought a new perspective to the war and its aftermath. The time has come, in the eyes of the Nation, to set aside a location of remembrance for the people who served in this hard-fought war half a planet away. The Korean War Veterans Memorial honors these Americans who answered the get in touch with, these who worked and fought beneath the most attempting circumstances, and these who gave their lives for the lead to of freedom.
A War Half a Globe Away
Only 5 years had passed since the finish of Planet War II when the United States as soon as once more located itself embroiled in a key international conflict. In the early morning hours of June 25, 1950, the communist government of North Korea launched an attack into South Korea. Determined to help the world’s imperiled democracies, the United States immediately sent troops from Japan to join those already stationed in Korea they fought with other nations below the U.N. flag. What was envisioned as a brief, decisive campaign became a prolonged, bitter, frustrating fight that threatened to explode beyond Korean borders. For three years the fighting raged. In 1953 an uneasy peace returned by implies of a negotiated settlement that established a new boundary near the original one at the 38th parallel.
One particular-and-a-half million American guys and ladies, a true cross-section of the Nation’s populace, struggled side by side for the duration of the conflict. They served as soldiers, chaplains, nurses, clerks, and in a host of other combat and support roles. Several risked their lives in extraordinary acts of heroism. Of these, 131 received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Nation’s most esteemed tribute for combat bravery.
A Place for Reflection
Viewed from above, the memorial is a circle interesected by a triangle. Visitors approaching the memorial come first to the triangular Field of Service. Right here, a group of 19 stainless-steel statues, produced by Globe War II veteran Frank Gaylord, depicts a squad on patrol and evokes the encounter of American ground troops in Korea. Strips of granite and scrubby juniper bushes suggest the rugged Korean terrain, even though windblown ponchos recall the harsh climate. This symbolic patrol brings with each other members of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marines, and Navy the males portrayed are from a selection of ethnic backgrounds.
A granite curb on the north side of the statues lists the 22 countries of the United Nations that sent troops or gave healthcare assistance in defense of South Korea. On the south side is a black granite wall. Its polished surface mirrors the statues, intermingling the reflected images with the faces etched into the granite. The etched mural is primarily based on actual photographs of unidentified American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. The faces represent all these who offered help for the ground troops. Collectively these pictures reflect the determination of U.S. forces and the countless techniques in which Americans answered their country’s contact to duty.
The adjacent Pool of Remembrance, encircled by a grove of trees, provides a quiet setting. Numbers of those killed, wounded, missing in action, and held prisoner-of-war are etched in stone nearby. Opposite this counting of the war’s toll another granite wall bears a message inlaid in silver:
Freedom Is Not Cost-free.
Establishment and Dedication
On October 28, 1986, Congress authorized the American Battle Monuments Commission to establish a memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Korean War. The Korean War Veterans Memorial Advisory Board was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to suggest a internet site and style, and to raise building funds. Ground was broken in November 1993. Frank Gaylord was selected as the principal sculptor of the statues and Louis Nelson was chosen to create the mural of etched faces on the wall. On July 27, 1995, the 42nd anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War, the memorial was devoted by President William J. Clinton and Kim Young Sam, President of the Republic of Korea.
Going to the Memorial
The memorial is staffed from eight a.m. to midnight each and every day of the year except December 25 by park rangers who are obtainable to answer inquiries and give talks. A bookstore in the nearby Lincoln Memorial sells informational products relating to both the memorial and the Korean War.
The Korean War Veterans Memorial is element of the National Park Technique, one of a lot more than 370 parks representing our nation’s all-natural and cultural heritage. Address inqueries to: Superintendent, National Capital Parks-Central, 900 Ohio Drive, SW, Washington, DC 20024-2000.