What happens to used spacecraft? Where is the Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle?
A. In early human space flight programs such as Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, the spacecraft underwent detailed post-mission analysis that often yielded important new information on the rigors of traveling in space. Most of these vehicles are displayed for the public at NASA Centers and science museums across the country. For example, the Apollo 11 command module is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. The Enterprise, which was not designed to fly in space, made a series of appearances at air shows in the United States, Europe and Canada before being turned over to the Air and Space Museum. It is now in storage awaiting the construction of a museum annex that would house it and numerous other large historic aircraft.
A. All retired NASA space vehicles belong to the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum. In early human space flight programs such as Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, the spacecraft underwent detailed post-mission analysis that often yielded important new information on the rigors of traveling in space. Most of these vehicles are displayed for the public at NASA Centers and science museums across the country. The Space Shuttle Enterprise, which was not designed to fly in space, made a series of appearances at air shows in the United States, Europe and Canada before being turned over to the Air and Space Museum. It is now on display in the McDonnell Space Hangar at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. For additional information, please refer to the Web site link below.
In early human space flight programs such as Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, the spacecraft underwent detailed post-mission analysis that often yielded important new information on the rigors of travelling in space. Most of these vehicles are displayed for the public at NASA Centers and science museums across the country. For example, the Apollo 11 command module is displayed at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. The Enterprise, which was not designed to fly in space, made a series of appearances at air shows in the United States, Europe and Canada before being turned over to the Air and Space Museum. It is now in storage awaiting the construction of a museum annex that would house it and numerous other large historic aircraft.
