mbullock@ADS.COM (Michael E. Bullock) (09/05/90)
Last week my wife and I were in Washington, DC for a week of sightseeing. After spending time in the Air&Space museum, I decided I'd really like to be able to see the aircraft that the Air&Space museum have stored out at the Dulles airport. My brother happens to work for an airline out at Dulles and so he called up the Asst. Curator of the Smithsonian to see if we could visit their Dulles facility. No problem! So the next day we headed out there. You have to go in through gate #4 (not for public access) and we just indicated that we had made prior arrangements to visit the facility. We drove out to an ordinary looking hangar and there it is - the shuttle Enterprize! The hangar must have been built around it since there is no way it could have fit through the door. My biggest impression was how BIG the shuttle is! I don't think we appreciate just how big it is when we see it on the pad - but up close and personal - INCREDIBLE! We were allowed to walk around & basically do what we wanted. Though the nose wheel was still on, the main gear had been removed and it rested on jacks. Though it had a layer of dust on it :-( , it looked as though it was in good condition. We didn't get to see inside, but evidently it is pretty much gutted. There was an Apollo module sitting close to it and it made quite a sight. By comparing the two, you can get a feel for how far we have really come in a short period of time. There were several other interesting vehicles in the hangar stuffed wherever there was room: B-17, F-4, even parts to an airship. I'm amazed I hardly even noticed them due to my fixation on the Enterprize! Afterwards, we drove down the road to see the SR-71. It is parked outside on a concrete pad built for it. There is a fence around it, but the guy let us in. Once again we could poke around and examine it in detail. Unfortunately, the cockpit had a metal cover over it, so we weren't able to look in there. Despite earlier reports on the net of how this aircraft is rusting away - it was in good condition. I asked the guy in charge of restoring it how the titanium skin stands up in the weather - he said that it is one the of the best aircraft for standing up to the elements. He also related some stories and facts about the aircraft - like the time when Reagan had an SR-71 do a fly-by at Castro's home in Cuba in the middle of the night at tree-top level. ZOWIE - what a way to be woken up in the morning! So after about an hour the tour ended. I feel very lucky to get a chance to actually touch and inspect a space shuttle! Supposedly, a museum will be built out at Dulles, but it is all entrenched in politics & budget problems for now. Don't look for a museum out there for at least 3-4 years. The people out there seemed pleased to accommodate us - so I'd imagine that others could arrange to see their facility at Dulles in the future if you take the time to make arrangements. Mike Bullock Advanced Decision Systems Mountain View, CA
petej@phred.UUCP (Pete Jarvis) (09/10/90)
In article <32}%AQ+@ads.com> mbullock@ADS.COM (Michael E. Bullock) writes: > > We drove out to an ordinary looking hangar and there >it is - the shuttle Enterprize! The hangar must have been built around >it since there is no way it could have fit through the door. My biggest >impression was how BIG the shuttle is! I don't think we appreciate just >how big it is when we see it on the pad - but up close and personal - >INCREDIBLE! <<stuff deleted>> >So after about an hour the tour ended. I feel very lucky to get a chance >to actually touch and inspect a space shuttle! You can also see up close, the first Shuttle built. Pathfinder, full size, and made for tooling and fitting purposes, is mounted on an External Tank with 2 SRB's strapped to it. It is at the Huntsville, Al. Space and Rocket Center mounted horizontally with a slightly nose up attitude. Peter Jarvis..........