The Space Shuttle program is over, and the hardware it utilized has been transferred to museums across the country. You can visit flown orbiters in Los Angelos, California (Endeavour), and Dulles airport in Virginia (Discovery), but the first dedicated facility to the program is the new home for Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. "Space Shuttle Atlantis," which debuts on Saturday (June 29), showcases the retired winged spacecraft as part of a $100 million exhibit that has been more than a year in the making. It succeeds in bringing the public nose-to-nose — and nose-to-wing and nose-to-tail — with Atlantis in a way that is unique to every other museum display of a shuttle orbiter.
With a reveal worthy of the 'magical' theme park in nearby Orlando, visitors will experience an encounter with the mighty spacecraft similar to an astronaut walking in space. Seemingly within touching distance, with its payload bay open and a replica of its Canadarm robotic arm extended, Atlantis looks less like a museum's static display than it does a still active vehicle, somehow frozen in place, as if it could soar back into orbit at any time. What's more, thanks to theatrical lighting and a 40-foot-long (12-meter) animated digital backdrop, the orbiter comes alive as the changing hues and resulting shadows stretch across its surface.
INSPIRE Students attending the upcoming Student Unconference will get to witness this new display during their stay, while others vacationing near KSC will see it as part of their Visitor Complex experience.
Discuss this blog here: http://tinyurl.com/bloginspire12
No comments:
Post a Comment