The final phase of flight testing involved free flights. These saw Enterprise mated to the SCA and carried to a launch altitude, before being released to glide to a landing on the runways at Edwards AFB. The intention of these flights was to test the flight characteristics of the orbiter itself, on a typical approach and landing profile from orbit. There was a total of five free flights between 12th of August and October; the first three saw Enterprise remain fitted with its aerodynamic tail cone, intended to reduce drag when mounted on the SCA during flight. The final two had the tail cone removed, with the orbiter in its full operational configuration, with dummy main engines and OMS pods. Enterprise used an air data probe mounted on its nose for these flights. These five flights were to be the only time Enterprise flew alone. We celebrate this feat of engineering with a scale model of a shuttle over Edwards…

Buying my Art

You can have selected pictures of mine printed on Pixieset (Selective Coloration), PictRS (Landscapes) or VIEWBUG (Both and more), if you like them. Please click on one of the links above or the buttons below …

PictRS is also accessible via the QR code:

Meine Kunst Kaufen

Sie können einige ausgewählte Bilder bei Pixieset (Selective Kolorierung), bei PictRS (Landschaften) oder VIEWBUG (Beide und mehr) kaufen, falls Sie Ihnen Diese gefallen, klicken Sie auf einem der obigen Links oder den einer den unteren Buttons…

PictRS ist auch über den QR Code erreichbar:

Aug 12

If you are interested what else happened on this day, please click on the calendar or press the button below:

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