"The doors are still open, the antenna is out, and in this case, we'll have the Canadarm out as well." "If you were in the International Space Station and looked out the window, what would the orbiter look like when it was about 150 yards away from you?" Macy said, citing the original idea that helped shape Atlantis' display plan. The six-story display facility was designed to showcase the shuttle as only the astronauts have had a chance to see it. That's right, Atlantis' next motion will be up. We work that simultaneously with getting Atlantis ready to be lifted in place." "As soon as we get it in, we start filling in behind it. It's like a garage without the door," Macy described. But even though its journey is over, the work to display Atlantis will be just beginning.Īrriving at its $100 million new home, Atlantis, still atop of the OTS, will roll right inside. EDT (2200 GMT), where a celebratory fireworks display will await its arrival. Should all go as Macy and his team have planned, Atlantis will pull up to the visitor complex by 6 p.m. "We took it around the route with 80-foot poles - 40 feet on each side - so we're pretty comfortable with it." "We have run the route, actually taken the OTS along the whole route except for the last mile or so, so we are comfortable that it works and there are no real issues," Macy said. Macy bases his confidence in the route on a trial run with the transporter, with poles standing in for Atlantis' 78-foot (24 meter) wingspan. "There are a couple of tight turns right as we get into Exploration Park and we have had to trim back some scrub pines but that's about it." "We have some logistics we're handling, but actually it's really manageable," Macy said. Along the 9.8 miles Atlantis will travel, 120 light poles, 23 traffic signals, 66 traffic signs and a power line needed to be temporarily removed. It will also deliver Atlantis to a still under construction light industrial park called Exploration Park, where the bused-in public will get a chance to walk around the shuttle.Įven the roundabout route however, wasn't without some obstacles. As a bonus, it will take the orbiter past KSC's headquarters building, where a morning ceremony for space program workers is planned. The clearest, and therefore chosen, route will first take Atlantis away from its destination before looping around to avoid any structures along the way. (Image credit: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex) 18, 2012 for a $100 million, 65,000 square foot exhibit dedicated to the retired shuttle at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. "The good news is that it is on KSC property, the roads are wide and the property is an industrial kind of area, so it is really set for this kind of movement."īill Moore, COO of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Janet Petro, Deputy Director, of NASA's Kennedy Space Center Lieutenant Governor of the State of Florida Jennifer Carroll Jeremy Jacobs, Chairman and CEO, Delaware North Companies and astronaut Chris Ferguson, commander of the final flight of space shuttle Atlantis, break ground Wednesday, Jan. "We're going to take it down a route that most of it, I'd say 70 percent of it, will be behind the fences as it were, in terms of it won't be on public grounds but it will be on the KSC property," said Macy. Not that there aren't benefits to being on government land. The next most direct path is also blocked by a different security shack. The trip might be shorter if Atlantis could make a beeline for the visitor center, but the most direct route has a rather large guard house in the way. It moves at the breakneck speed of about 2 miles per hour, so we have to cover the 9.8 miles in that time," Macy said. "The orbiter rides on what we call the OTS - the Orbiter Transporter System - which is the 'Ferrari' of the OTS family. It previously carried the orbiters between their processing hangars and the VAB as the shuttles moved closer to lifting off. "If it's not squally or intense rain, then we're in pretty good shape to move," he said.Īssuming good weather, Atlantis will leave the VAB riding atop a 76-wheel vehicle that was designed specifically for moving the space shuttles between facilities. "So we're working closely with the 45th Air Wing and the same meteorologists who worked on the launches who will help us with the criteria." we are go for the day," Macy explained during a call with reporters. "Because it is such a long window, once we commit at 7 a.m. This last launch, although not to space, still carries some weather constraints, which will need to be cleared before Atlantis hits the road for the visitor complex. 2 when it backs out of its current parking spot inside Kennedy Space Center's 52-story tall Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Atlantis' final journey will begin at about 6 a.m.
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