NASA: Rain delays Enterprise's trip to NYC
Charles Bolden, Jr., Administrator of NASA, speaks during a transfer ceremony for the Space Shuttle Discovery (R) at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. (April 19, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
NASA has postponed the space shuttle Enterprise's trip to New York City that had been scheduled for Monday.
NASA announced on its website Friday that the planned flight, to depart from Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., was being delayed due to expected rain.
Enterprise was supposed to be flown on the back of a modified Boeing 747.
"It's a heavy aircraft," NASA spokesman Michael Currie said in a statement. "Weather needs to be within wind and turbulence limits in order to safely fly."
NASA plans to review weather forecasts and announce a new date for the flight as soon as possible.
Monday's flight had been scheduled for between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. The shuttle carrier was supposed to take Enterprise over the Statue of Liberty and along the Hudson River before landing at Kennedy Airport.
That's where the space shuttle will be housed until June, when it will be loaded onto a barge and floated up river to its new home, on the deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum at Pier 86, at 46th Street and 12th Avenue.
The museum had planned a welcoming event at Kennedy that was to feature about 1,500 invited guests, including community members, students and elected officials.
Earlier this week, the Intrepid museum began making room for Enterprise's arrival. Three historic aircraft were removed from Intrepid's flight deck.
A British Royal Navy fighter-bomber, a Douglas F3D-2 F-10 Skyknight and a MiG-15 aircraft were lifted off the Intrepid and placed on the pier. The aircraft were moved to make room for a temporary, climate-controlled pavilion that will be erected ahead of the shuttle's arrival.
The Intrepid museum is working on finding a permanent exhibition facility for Enterprise.
'I do think he saw the writing on the wall' Rex Heuermann's Attorney Michael Brown sat down with Newsday following his client's sentencing to discuss the case. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.
'I do think he saw the writing on the wall' Rex Heuermann's Attorney Michael Brown sat down with Newsday following his client's sentencing to discuss the case. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.
