Aircraft Being Moved From The Intrepid To Make Room For Shuttle Enterprise
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum is moving three aircrafts from its flight deck to make room for the space shuttle Enterprise.
WCBS 880's Marla Diamond On The Story
Podcast
The aircrafts are being hoisted by crane onto the pier and then a barge. They'll be taken to the Empire State Aerosciences Museum in Glenville, N.Y.
They include a Supermarine Scimitar F.1 British Royal Navy fighter-bomber, a Douglas F3D-2 (F-10) Skyknight and a Mikoyan Gurevich MIG-15 aircraft.
PHOTOS: Aircraft Moved From Intrepid
The Enterprise was the first shuttle ever to be built by NASA and though it never flew in space, it paved the way for others that did.
NASA engineers used the Enterprise to figure out how to land a shuttle, launching the glider from the back of a modified 747 in 1977.
Intrepid curator Eric Boehm says in some ways, the prototype is better than the real thing.
"Without Enterprise proving things, the rest of the fleet would have never been built, would have never flown in space," he told CBS 2's Kathryn Brown.
Museum visitors were thrilled to see the action and even more excited about what's to come.
GUIDE: New York's 6 Best Culture Spots (On A Budget)
"They've decommissioned the space shuttles so not a lot exist and this is one fo the last ones remaining," said Otto Stenzler.
The Enterprise is scheduled to arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday. It will be brought to the Intrepid by barge in June and subsequently go on public display in a temporary pavilion.
"We are immensely excited about Enterprise's landing at JFK, and are readying the Intrepid for her arrival," Susan Marenoff-Zausner, president of the Intrepid said in a statement. "Introducing Enterprise to New York is a landmark occasion and marks the beginning of Enterprise's next mission, which is to inspire a new generation of scientists, engineers and researchers and serve as a reminder that anything is possible."
The Intrepid is working on the Enterprise's permanent location. The exhibit will open to the public in July.
For more information, visit www.intrepidmuseum.org.
(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
