Space Shuttle Independence

The 123 foot long 37 meters space shuttle replica which in october was christened independence as the result of a statewide naming contest arrived in 2012 from nasa s kennedy space center.
Space shuttle independence. It was built by guard lee in apopka florida installed at kennedy space center visitor complex in 1993 and moved to space center houston in 2012. The 8 billion program. Space shuttle independence formerly known as explorer is a full scale high fidelity replica of the space shuttle. It is the only shuttle mounted on an sca that the public can go inside.
Space shuttle independence formerly known as explorer is a full scale high fidelity replica of the space shuttle. Space shuttle independence honorary orbiter vehicle designation. It was built by guard lee in apopka florida installed at kennedy space center visitor complex in 1993 and moved to space center houston in 2012. Space agency in 2014 contracted elon musk s spacex and boeing co ba n to build competing space capsules in an effort to reclaim nasa s launch independence.
After the end of the space shuttle program in 2011 independence was relocated from kennedy space center when the space shuttle atlantis was put on display there. The independence is actually a space shuttle replica its original name was explorer. Independence was built in florida in 1993 and put on display at kennedy space center to educate visitors about the shuttle program while it was still active. The 8 billion program enabled spacex s first crewed trip to the space station in may marking the first from home soil in nearly a decade.
The new name for space center houston s full size space shuttle replica independence is unveiled oct. Independence plaza presented by boeing is an international landmark offering an experience like nothing else in the world. While many of the features on the replica are simulated some parts including the landing gea. Visitors can enter the shuttle replica independence mounted on top of the historic and original nasa 905 shuttle carrier aircraft and then explore the giant plane.
Here are some interesting facts about the space shuttle independence. It was built in apopka florida by guard lee and installed at kennedy space center visitor complex in 1993. It was built using schematics blueprints and archival documents provided by nasa and by shuttle contractors such as rockwell international.