The Space Shuttle Enterprise was damaged slightly by Hurricane Sandy on Monday (October 29, 2012). The inflatable pavilion that houses the shuttle collapsed and part of the vertical stabilizer (tail) was torn off (see photo above). In June 2012, the Enterprise was installed at the USS Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum located at Pier 86 at 46th Street on the West Side of Manhattan. It was parked on the flight deck of the Intrepid inside an 180-foot-long by 60-foot-high inflatable, pressurized pavilion for protection and public display. The “superstorm” Sandy flooded Pier 86 on the west side of Manhattan, where the Intrepid is anchored, submerging part of the museum’s main entrance under water. Discovery was also in Sandy’s path but reported no damage although the Smithsonian remains closed due to the storm.
NASA told space.com:
“We certainly wish our best to everyone affected by the storm. It was a very big storm that affected many people. We are aware that Enterprise appears to be uncovered on the deck of the Intrepid, but we’re sure that our friends at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum will do their best to take care of Enterprise and get it back up to shipshape as soon as possible.”
Enterprise, built in the 1970s, never made it to space, but was used instead as a prototype to test the space shuttle design during approach-and-landing glide tests. Its previous home was the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia (in April, Enterprise was replaced in the museum with the space shuttle Discovery after NASA retired it in 2011).
