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.

NASA Space Shuttle Discovery: National Air and Space Museum

Discovery is expected to land at Washington Dulles International Airport on April 17 and transfer to the Udvar-Hazy Center on April 19. 

Join us to launch Space Shuttle Discovery on its new mission to educate & inspire!

Activities related to the arrival of Discovery — including a fly-over — have not been finalized at this time. 

Information on arrival activities, including public events and opportunities, will be released at a later date.

Discovery, the champion of the space shuttle fleet, associated with major historic, scientific and technological achievements, will be the first of the flown space shuttles to go on display.

Exact details will become available in the next few weeks. Check back here for updates. You can also subscribe to the Museum's e-newsletter, What's Up, fan our Facebook page, or follow @airandspace on Twitter for the latest news.

Please note that arrival activities are weather contingent and will be rescheduled in the event of inclement conditions.

For those participating from a distance, many of the activities will be available for viewing on TV or the web. Details coming soon.

Find out more about Space Shuttle Discovery

New Exhibition and Website: Evolving Universe

Most stars form close together in nebulae - large cosmic clouds of gas and dust that act as stellar nurseries. 

The nebula IC 410 is located 13,000 light-years from Earth and spans 15 light-years. 

This visible-light photograph was taken with the Megacam instrument on the MMT telescope atop Mount Hopkins, Arizona. Credit: Harvard-Smithsonian CfA.

The cosmos constantly changes. Stars are born, live out their lives, and die - sometimes calmly, sometimes explosively. Galaxies form, grow, and collide dramatically. A new exhibition and website, developed jointly by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) and the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, reveal the dynamic and evolving universe through breathtaking photographs and informative captions.

"The Evolving Universe" explores how the stars, galaxies and universe undergo the same stages as life on Earth: from birth, to maturity and, eventually, to death.

This remarkable journey from present-day Earth to the far reaches of space and time will be on view in the museum in Washington, D.C., through July 7, 2013.

A worldwide audience also can experience the exhibition through its website:

All of the images featured in the museum gallery can be downloaded in high-resolution jpegs or PDFs formatted in poster size.

"Anyone can select their favorite space photo, download it, and take it to their local copy shop to print it," said Smithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who played a lead role in developing the exhibition.

Visitors to the exhibition or website can choose one of two paths to explore the cosmos. They can begin close to home with our solar system and move outward to the farthest reaches of the universe. Or they can begin 13.7 billion years ago at the moment of the Big Bang and move forward in time to the present day.

Along their journey they will learn how a variety of telescopes and instruments, many developed by SAO, reveal the fascinating history of the expanding universe.

"We've all seen the amazing pictures from NASA's probes in our own solar system," said McDowell.

"I'm excited about bringing to the public the remarkable images of the broader universe that we astronomers have been exploring with our telescopes. I hope that with this exhibition visitors will take away an appreciation for our larger cosmic neighborhood."

"The Evolving Universe" is located on the second floor of the National Museum of Natural History, between the Minerals Store and the Korea Gallery.

NASA Shuttle Enterprise: Controversial Site Plan for New York Museum

The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York has a new plan for the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

Instead of a berth next to the aircraft carrier that houses the museum, it would go in a facility to be built in a parking lot across the street, surrounded by storage warehouses, a car wash and a strip club.

The museum does not own the lot, which is designated for manufacturing uses and would have to be re-zoned to house the shuttle.

This has prompted U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to write a letter urging NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to reconsider his decision on Enterprise.

"This report makes it evident that New York City was, and still is, woefully unprepared to house the Enterprise space shuttle," he wrote.

"This also raises further questions about the thoroughness of NASA's selection process and I urge NASA to revisit its decision to send the Enterprise to New York."

Brown made a pitch in his letter for a site in his state: the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton.

NASA has Chosen Museums for Retired Space Shuttles

NASA's selection of display locations for retired space shuttles in California, Florida, New York and Virginia was implemented fairly and without improper influence, federal investigators reported Aug. 25.

NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG), which provides independent oversight for the agency, reviewed NASA's selection process as a result of concerns being raised by politicians and by some of the museums who missed out on receiving one of the four prized orbiters for their state or facility.

ESA ESERO Project: Summer Workshop for Secondary School Science Teachers

The International Space Station, the largest laboratory ever built in space, is the result of many years of cooperation between the USA, Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe.


This illustration shows the Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV, that carries food, clothing, fuel tanks, air and drinking water to the ISS crew.

The first launch of this supply vessel in 2008 marked the first ever rendezvous and docking of a European spacecraft in orbit.


Credits: V. Bétoulaud

The European Space Agency is providing many innovative and inspiring aids to teachers to enhance their curriculum with space related subjects. Now ESA is inviting educators to a summer workshop at its establishment in the Netherlands from 28 to 30 June 2010.

ESA’s Directorate of Human Spaceflight has been using the International Space Station as a 'classroom in space' for many educational events and for the production of educational material made available to teachers, science educators and all interested.

ISS will continue in orbit till at least 2020 – and the educational side of the ISS will be even stonger in the future as the focus of the ISS activities is being turned from construction to routine operation.

For more information contact ESA directly by following this link

4.5 Billion Year old meteorite discovered, in antique dealers attic

A meteorite, which was at one point stored in an attic, is being studied by scientists at the French Natural History Museum for clues to the origins of life on earth.

A French antique dealer bought the meteorite at auction ten years ago. It was only when he took it to the University of Nantes to be examined that its age was estimated at 4.5 billion years. Emma North reports.