![]() In 2002, Discovery underwent an over two year Orbiter Maintenance Down Period that provided 99 upgrades and 88 special tests, including a number of changes to make it safer for flight. Empty Weight was 151,419 lbs at rollout and 171,000 lbs with main engines installed. Discovery is commonly referred to as OV-103, for Orbiter Vehicle-103. In the day-to-day world of Shuttle operations and processing, Space Shuttle orbiters go by a more prosaic designation. This ship still exists and is being preserved by the Society. This organization then built another Discovery in 1901 to conduct its Antarctic expedition that concluded in 1904. Another, based on whaling ship design, was used by the British Royal Geographical Society for an expedition to the North Pole in 1875. Other famous ships have carried the name Discovery, including one used by Henry Hudson to explore Hudson Bay in Canada as well as search for what was hoped to be the northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 16. During the American Revolutionary War, Benjamin Franklin made a safe conduct request for the British vessel because of the scientific importance of its research. Cook also used Discovery to explore the coasts of southern Alaska and northwestern Canada. Another of his ships was the Endeavour, the namesake of NASA's newest orbiter. We expect more information to follow.įor more photos from the evening's events, go to the Facebook page.Discovery, the third orbiter to become operational at Kennedy Space Center, was named after one of two ships that were used by the British explorer James Cook in the 1770's during voyages in the South Pacific that led to the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. In fact, we saw at least two different bumper stickers on the famous tow truck taking a jab at its half-ton competition.Īdditionally, the actual Toyota Tundra that pulled the Endeavour will also end up at the California Science Center (dontated by Toyota), taking the place of a first-gen Tundra at the entrance of the museum, which gives a real-world, interactive demonstration of leverage (or fulcrums) to attendees. Likewise, you can bet that local and national dealerships will use this historic opportunity to sell more trucks. We're likely to see the footage in a series of Toyota commercials and possibly other media as well. The Tundra "big-pull" event was well-documented with video, camera crews and TV commercial filming. ![]() It was pulling pretty hard," McBride said. "The only point I felt the Tundra had to work a little harder was going back up the hill on the far side of the bridge. The actual distance the truck and trailer had to navigate was only about 300 yards, but as with most well-engineered bridges, there was a bit of a crown to it, so the pull up the initial front side of the bridge and back up the downhill section on the other side were the biggest challenges for the driver and truck. Once the prep was finished, all the driver had to do was put the truck into low range, drop it into 1st gear and keep the rpm steady. Finally, the tire pressures were lowered to give the treads as much contact patch as possible. Also, since there would be no weight on the rear end of the truck, Toyota put a 1,700-pound weight in the back to give the rear tires some force for grip. The tow hitch was modified to accommodate a specially designed drop pin. ![]() The actual towing the Tundra did with the shuttle took only four minutes, but it required some thoughtful prep. Once hooked up to the Endeavour, the Tundra was piloted by professional stunt driver Matt McBride (whom you might recognize from a series of other death-defying Tundra commercials) and astronaut Garrett Reisman, who was taken to the International Space Station in Endeavour and spent 95 days in space. The shuttle was parked at La Cienega and West Manchester boulevards for several hours as workers and city officials oversaw the switching of the trailer systems. The freeway was closed in both directions for several minutes before the tow took place, to prevent any freeway collisions that could occur while the shuttle moved across the overpass. We had the chance to see the shuttle up close Friday night when a fully loaded (unmodified) Toyota Tundra Limited CrewMax 4×4 towed the stripped-down shuttle over the Manchester Boulevard Bridge over the 405 Freeway, a central artery of Los Angeles. The shuttle will eventually be displayed in its upright takeoff position. The Endeavour is now being housed at the California Science Center near the campus of USC, just south of downtown Los Angeles. The event took about 17 hours longer than city and transportation officials anticipated, and it required some on-the-spot tree trimming to squeeze past a few narrow sections. By now you've seen the YouTube posts and news stories about the Endeavour space shuttle being transported through 12 miles of Los Angeles city streets.
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