Last year we went to the National Air and Space Museum
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The Space Shuttle
Discovery now calls the museum home, so we had to take another trip to see it.
This shuttle has been to space! And it shows. On the left is the
Discovery. On the right is the
Enterprise. The
Enterprise, which was used for tests on the ground and in the atmosphere looks like a glorified model next to the
Discovery.
The tiles on the space shuttle got a lot of love from the tour guides. We heard bits of three separate tours, and they were all discussing these glorious tiles. They provided protection against the extreme temperatures encountered when reentering the atmosphere. Tiles would have to be replaced after they were worn out. The black tiles are the ones that have never been through reentry.
Pictures with a baby to give some perspective on scale.
The Space Shuttle
Discovery flew 39 missions, covering 149 million miles in its 5,830 orbits and spent 365 days in space. It flew more missions than any other space shuttle.
Seeing the space shuttle in person was pretty impressive. For me and Nate, it was a chance to see one of the symbols of the era of our childhood.
1 comment:
I agree it is amazing! The day after the Discovery arrived last April my sister and her little boy were in town so we took Jackson out of school early to go see it. So cool!!! I will say the kids favorite at the museum was Jetfire from Transformers. My boys hadn't seen the movie, but my sister's boy was a HUGE fan! What a fun family adventure. :-)
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