Shuttle Enterprise days from NY homecoming

The shuttle Enterprise, the prototype that NASA used to launch the shuttle program 35 years ago, has one more landing to make.

Enterprise, which was used as a test craft in 1977, several years before the Columbia became the first shuttle to reach space, is to arrive at Kennedy Airport Monday on the back of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration carrier, a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet. In June, Enterprise will be moved to the flight deck of the Intrepid at Pier 86 on the Hudson River in Manhattan.

"For us, it really completes the whole picture," said John Zukowsky, interim vice president for exhibitions at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. "We're a sea, air and space museum. I think this is a great story to tell."

Tuesday, NASA set the stage for Enterprise to move to New York. The space agency flew the shuttle Discovery from Florida to its new home at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia. That move made the carrier available to bring Enterprise to New York.

Making room for Enterprise starts Wednesday, when three aircraft will be removed by crane from the Intrepid's flight deck.

After it arrives at Kennedy, the shuttle will be stored there until June, when it will be loaded onto a barge and floated into New York Harbor, according to the museum. From there, it will be pulled by a tug boat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid.

A crane will then lift the shuttle onto the flight deck of the Intrepid. Enterprise will be open for public viewing this summer in a temporary pavilion while a permanent exhibit is created.

Enterprise was used to test the shuttle program's approach and landing systems, but never flew in space. It has been on display for nearly 19 years at the National Air and Space Museum complex near Washington.

The Intrepid museum invited about 1,500 people to Kennedy Airport for the shuttle arrival, including school children from across the region, community leaders and elected officials.

Enterprise should arrive in New York around 11:30 a.m., according to the museum.

Plans call for the shuttle carrier to fly "near a variety of landmarks" in the New York region, including the Statue of Liberty before landing at Kennedy. The flyover near New York landmarks was cleared by the Federal Aviation Administration, said museum spokesman Luke Sacks.

Past low-altitude flights around New York City have been controversial. Three years ago, a flight over lower Manhattan by one of the planes used as Air Force One and military jets caused some New Yorkers to flee office towers and run into the streets, fearing another Sept. 11-style attack.

That flight, for a photo shoot of the presidential plane, led to a White House official resigning after an investigation.

The FAA declined to comment about the Enterprise flyover but posted a news release about the event on NASA's website.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) are expected to attend Monday's ceremony. Representatives from the museum, NASA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are scheduled to speak.