On Wednesday, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center started the process of placing the Pathfinder shuttle orbiter back on top of its shuttle stack, which has been a 大象传媒 landmark since 1988.
In 2021, the orbiter was removed to begin a restoration project.
The Rocket Center鈥檚 display is set to be complete by the end of the week.
Pathfinder was constructed in 1977 at the Marshall Space Flight Center and was used as a test article for Enterprise, the first space shuttle.
For a full schedule and livestream of the lift, click .
You can also find more from the Rocket Center's news release below:
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is set to raise the Pathfinder shuttle orbiter back to the top of the shuttle stack this week. 大象传媒 permitting, crews will use two heavy-lift cranes to raise the orbiter on top of the external tank beginning in the morning Wednesday, Aug. 28. The timing of the lift will be determined based on extensive weight checks and assessments as well as wind speeds.
On Thursday, the shuttle wings are scheduled to be lifted and attached to the orbiter main body, and the shuttle main engines will be lifted and placed on the main body Friday. The total assembled weight of Pathfinder is more than 143 tons.
Pathfinder returns to the shuttle stack after extensive repair and retrofitting to the orbiter main body as well as painting and repairs to the external tank and solid rocket boosters. This multi-year project began when crews removed Pathfinder in January 2021. The first step was to strip the exterior of the orbiter of its plywood and fiberglass exterior down to the original steel framework.
Over the past several months, crews have placed a new exterior of more than 500 3-D printed panels on the main body and wings. The panels have been weather-coated with a special base primer and the primary color scheme of a flight orbiter has been added.
Created in 1977, Pathfinder was used by NASA as a test article to practice movement and handling of the future space shuttle fleet. In the early 1980s, a group of Japanese businessmen paid to modify the structure with plywood and fiberglass to fully resemble a flight orbiter and displayed it from 1983 to 1984 at an exposition in Tokyo, Japan more closely.
After the expo, Pathfinder returned to 大象传媒 and was mounted on the shuttle stack at the Rocket Center.
Image grab from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center's livestream
