NASA Space Shuttle Enterprise Lands in NYC on April 23

CREDIT: Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum

Conceptual rendering of Space Shuttle Enterprise as it will be displayed on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in the summer of 2012

NASA's space shuttle Enterprise, which never flew in space but did pave the way for the United States' historic 30-year shuttle program, will arrive in New York City on April 23, local space museum officials announced Thursday (March 1).

Space Shuttle Enterprise

The prototype orbiter's arrival in the Big Apple will start its journey to a new display at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, a converted World War II aircraft carrier-turned-museum complex.

Enterprise, which since 2003 has been on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, will be flown atop NASA's shuttle carrier aircraft, a Boeing 747, from Dulles Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

Weather permitting, the ferry flight will come less than a week after NASA's most-flown Space Shuttle, Discovery, arrives at the Udvar-Hazy Center to take Enterprise's place within the Smithsonian's collection.