While you were sleeping, the Space Shuttle Enterprise was "demated" from the NASA 747 that brought her to NYC. Sometime around 3 or 4 a.m. Sunday morning, the shuttle was separated from the plane she piggybacked here on, and was placed back inside of JFK Airport's Hangar 12. The process took over ten hours.
We're told that NASA and United Space Alliance personnel used "two cranes, a lifting sling, a wind restraint system and other equipment, to lift Enterprise from atop the SCA, back the 747 away, and return the shuttle to inside Hangar 12," located on the Van Wyck Service Road, where it will stay until June.
At that point, Enterprise will be placed on a barge and brought to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, where she will be lifted by a crane and placed on the flight deck of the Intrepid. (Which should make for another nice photo op.) She'll be open to the public starting July 19th "in a temporary climate-controlled pavilion that will feature innovative elements in an exciting and immersive experience for visitors." A permanent exhibit facility is in the works.
