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It is a shameful exercise in grandstanding, but the article cited by Ars about the difficulty in transporting the shuttle is, in my opinion, wrong. When they n

It is a shameful exercise in grandstanding, but the article cited by Ars about the difficulty in transporting the shuttle is, in my opinion, wrong. When they needed to move the shuttle-sized Muon G-2 magnet ring from Brookhaven to Fermilab, they carefully packaged it up and sent it by barge for 85% of the trip. The east coast and gulf coast portions used the intracoastal waterway, which is exactly the same route they would use for the shuttle. And yes, that magnet ring is a hell of a lot more fragile than a shuttle. I’m sorry to say, but transportation is not at all a barrier to such a move. Here is a photo of it passing St. Louis. You can see how tiny it looks compared to the kind of barge they’d use: https://muon-g-2.fnal.gov/bigmove/images/gallery/20130719-St-Louis-Arch.jpg https://muon-g-2.fnal.gov/bigmove/images/gallery/20130719-St...

pmags 1y ago
Thanks for the details about the Muon G-2 move. Are there aspects of the G-2 that made it more modular / easier to disassemble than the shuttle? The quote in the article cited by Ars (http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-041025a-space-shuttle-discovery-move-smithsonian-houston-legislation.html http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-041025a-space-shuttle-...) seems to come from the former "director of NASA's transition and retirement program". > Partially disassembling Discovery is also not an option. Removing the wings would result in destroying many of the thermal blankets and tiles that protected the space shuttle as it returned to Earth, and you would still be left with segments too large to enter normal traffic, explained Jenkins.
- Kon-Peki 1y ago
  The shuttle wingspan is 78 feet, and the narrowest section of the Intracoastal Waterway is >100 feet. You simply wouldn’t have to disassemble the shuttle to make it work. There are existing rules for wide loads. They’d just use them. That’s the extent of my knowledge. I think that everyone they’ve talked to doesn’t want it to happen, and that is coloring their view of whether it can happen. But I could be wrong.

pmags 1y ago

Thanks for the details about the Muon G-2 move. Are there aspects of the G-2 that made it more modular / easier to disassemble than the shuttle? The quote in the article cited by Ars (http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-041025a-space-shuttle-discovery-move-smithsonian-houston-legislation.html http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-041025a-space-shuttle-...) seems to come from the former "director of NASA's transition and retirement program". > Partially disassembling Discovery is also not an option. Removing the wings would result in destroying many of the thermal blankets and tiles that protected the space shuttle as it returned to Earth, and you would still be left with segments too large to enter normal traffic, explained Jenkins.

Kon-Peki 1y ago
The shuttle wingspan is 78 feet, and the narrowest section of the Intracoastal Waterway is >100 feet. You simply wouldn’t have to disassemble the shuttle to make it work. There are existing rules for wide loads. They’d just use them. That’s the extent of my knowledge. I think that everyone they’ve talked to doesn’t want it to happen, and that is coloring their view of whether it can happen. But I could be wrong.