Space Shuttle Enterprise’s New Home

Yesterday I biked to the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum to watch the space shuttle Enterprise settle into its new home. More after the slide show.

Enterprise never went into orbit. It’s role in the space program was humble. It was used for test flights in the atmosphere, it had no engines and no heat shield. It did not enjoy the success of Endeavor, Discovery, or Atlantis, or the tragedy of Columbia and Challenger. And yet it did its job and contributed to a body of knowledge. Without Enterprise, the others would not have had their moments of glory. But the crowd that gathered to watch it didn’t care, they applauded and cheered when it came to rest.

But the cheers were also for the riggers. I could see them smile and laugh and I think I detected an aura of pride surround them. Imagine going home that night.  Your child asks what you did at work. “I brought a space shuttle to its resting place, where it will be visited and admired by millions of people.” Imagine that child bringing his child to the exhibit 30 years later and saying, “My father was one of the people responsible for putting this amazing thing here.” And on and on. That’s pretty freaking cool.

These riggers had a lot of help, of course. They had amazing technology, but they also had the knowledge bestowed to them from their rigging ancestors, all the way back to the pyramids and Stone Henge.*

Yeah, it all comes back to A Life’s Work with me.

*UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that the folks who constructed the pyramids and Stone Henge did not pass down their rigging techniques. This is true, of course. How those giant stones were put into place is still up for debate. I stand corrected. Damned facts! Always getting in the way.