via CollectSpace
The Space Shuttle Enterprise was scheduled to come back to New York after a brief stay in New Jersey today, but the trip was postponed due to weather, after the windy weather on Sunday caused it to get into a little fender bender. As we noted yesterday while the shuttle was approaching the Railroad Bridge, "a sudden microburst of wind, measured at 35 knots, caused the rub panel foam protective layer of the wingtip of the Enterprise to graze the protective wood piling bumpers in the water designed to bumper vessels." The damage was only cosmetic, and now there are photos showing the bruised wing.
Dennis Jenkins, who was aboard the barge carrying the Enterprise, explained, "The railroad bridge and the Cross Bay Bridge, each presented challenges. The passage through the railroad bridge was narrow with only a few feet of clearance on each wingtip, while the Cross Bay was only a few feet higher than the vertical stabilizer. Mother nature did not smile on us. Just as the barge entered the railroad bridge, the wind caught it and pushed the right wing into the bridge abutment. Fortunately, the damage seems to be cosmetic, limited to the foam that covered the wingtip. No structure or mechanisms appear to have been damaged."
via CollectSpace
The new moving date to its final destination, the Intrepid, has been tentatively set for tomorrow, June 6th. Here's the new schedule:
- Leaves Weeks Marine, NJ at 10:15 a.m.
- Passes Statue of Liberty at 10:50 a.m.
- Passes World Trade Center at 11:40 a.m.
- Arrives at Intrepid Museum at 12:30 p.m.
