The guests who visited the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Sunday, Dec. 11 – got a bit of a surprise. If they came early, they saw the space shuttle model from the slowly rolling out the Complex’s front gates – headed toward Kennedy Space Center (KSC) proper. The model’s destination was the turn basin near the KSC press site, where the countdown clock is located.
The full-scale model was displayed next to mockups of the space shuttle’s external tank and solid rocket boosters (SRBs). These were removed prior to the shuttle’s move.
The model will be transferred to Space Center Houston. Until it is moved it will reside at the turn basin. It will eventually be relocated to Texas via barge. The area where the shuttle model components were was needed for a $100 million complex that will be built to house space shuttle Atlantis. This new facility is set to open in 2013 and will incorporate many elements of the shuttle program.
