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Shuttles Sail to Their New Homes

Jun 7, 2012 |

After NASA shut down the Space Shuttle Program, the remaining shuttles and replicas were divided among several cities, as museum displays. Over the past few weeks, two shuttles that never flew to space were transported by barge to their new homes. The Enterprise was sailed up the Hudson River to its new position aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid, part of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, and the shuttle replica named Explorer sailed from Florida to Houston, Texas, where it will be displayed at the Johnson Space Center. Images of these two journeys by sea are collected below. [22 photos]

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Space Shuttle Enterprise is carried by barge underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City, on June 3, 2012. Enterprise was on its way to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will put on permanent display. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

The space shuttle Enterprise hangs in the air at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, on May 13, 2012, after it was lifted from a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in preparation for its upcoming journey to its new home at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) #

The space shuttle Enterprise is towed past a pier filled with spectators at Coney Island in New York, on June 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) #

The Space Shuttle Enterprise floats up the Hudson River June 6, 2012, as it rides past the New York skyline on a barge. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) #

The space shuttle Enterprise passes the Statue of Liberty on the final leg of its journey to its new Manhattan home, on June 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) #

Fire boats spray water in front of the Space Shuttle Enterprise as it floats up the Hudson River on June 6, 2012. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) #

The space shuttle Enterprise is towed past the World Trade Center's Freedom Tower on June 6, 2012. (AP Photo/NASA, Bill Ingalls) #

Viewed from the streets of New York, the Space Shuttle Enterprise makes its way up the Hudson River on June 6, 2012. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images) #

The Enterprise is prepared to be hoisted by crane onto the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, on June 6, 2012 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) #

The Enterprise is lifted from the barge to the flight deck in New York, on June 6, 2012. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images) #

Space Shuttle Enterprise, viewed from Weehawken, New Jersey, as it is lifted onto the deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on June 6, 2012. (Reuters/Gary Hershorn) #

The Enterprise is lowered onto its new home aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, on June 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) #

In Florida, back on December 11, 2011, a transporter carries the high-fidelity space shuttle model "Explorer", that was on display at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, on its way to begin a transfer to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. (NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis) #

The SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida May 22, 2012. The mock shuttle Explorer, in the foreground, was on its way to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. (Reuters/Pierre DuCharme) #

The barge transporting the space shuttle model Explorer departs from the turn basin at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, bound for Houston, texas, on May 24, 2012. The turn basin is in the heart of Launch Complex 39 where the shuttles were processed and launched. Kennedy's Launch Control Center and the massive Vehicle Assembly Building are prominent in the background. (NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis) #

Seen from Jetty Park in Florida, the barge transporting space shuttle model Explorer travels through Port Canaveral during the first leg of their journey to Johnson Space Center's visitor center in Houston, on May 24, 2012. (NASA/Jim Grossmann) #

As the sun rises over the turn basin at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the barge transporting Explorer begins the trip to Houston, on May 24, 2012. (NASA/Charisse Nahser) #

Explorer sails through Port Canaveral into the Atlantic Ocean, on May 24, 2012. (NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis) #

Kayakers and paddle boarders watch as the Space Shuttle replica Explorer moves under a highway bridge into Clear Lake toward the dock at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, on June 1, 2012. (Reuters/Richard Carson) #

Explorer moves past waterfront homes in the channel leading into Clear Lake as the barge carrying the replica travels to the dock at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, on June 1, 2012. (Reuters/Richard Carson) #

People watch as the Space Shuttle replica Explorer moves along NASA Parkway to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, on June 3, 2012. (Reuters/Richard Carson) #

Spectators line the street as Explorer moves along NASA Parkway to its new home at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, on June 3, 2012. (Reuters/Richard Carson) #