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A Guide to NYC’s Space Shuttle Morning.


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Wall Street Journal [New York, NY] - "

New Yorkers should consider holding their collective breath Friday morning as the city waits to see if space shuttle Enterprise completes its twice-delayed journey. This time around, it won’t be rain but strong winds that could force another cancellation.

 

 

 

Enterprise, the very first shuttle in NASA’s fleet, is set to ride piggyback on a Boeing 747 for what is projected as a five-borough flyover before touching down at JFK Airport. The flight is tentatively scheduled for some time between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

 

 

 

 

Skies should be clear early Friday, and rain isn’t in the forecast. Strong winds left in the wake of Thursday’s departing storm system could still spoil the spectacle. The airplane-shuttle combo has windspeed limit of 20 knots (23 mph) for flight, and Friday’s windy weather will push right around that level. Fortunately, the wind will be aligned almost exactly with a landing at JFK’s Runway 31L, with no crosswind threat.

 

 

 

 

OB-ST139_NYSHUT_E_20120426180025.jpg [AP] - Space shuttle Discovery atop a 747 carrier jet as the aircraft departed the Kennedy Space Center on April 17 en route to Washington D.C.

 

 

 

 

 

VIEWING GUIDE: Do you want to see a space shuttle in a low-altitude flight around the Big Apple? Of course you do. It’s all but certain to be a once-in-a-lifetime sight, and it might just be the most anticipated flight to the city since Charles Lindbergh’s first transatlantic trip 85 years ago.

 

 

 

 

It’s important to note that there’s no official flyover route provided by NASA or the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in Manhattan, where the shuttle will eventually be on display.

 

 

 

 

The shuttle will enter city airspace from the south, and both the Statue of Liberty and the Intrepid are expected to be included in the tour of local landmarks. That means spectators with a view of the Hudson River or the harbor from Battery Park should have an excellent vantage point for the flyover.

 

 

 

The flight buffs at

NYCAviation.com have posted a possible route map based on what the website describes as “an FAA flight itinerary.” Take a look. If that map is accurate, viewers in Coney Island, the Brooklyn Promenade, Staten Island and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens will be able to see the shuttle. Even spectators in some parts of New Jersey and Long Island might be in luck.

 

 

 

 

Just remember: there’s no sure thing on the route, and a turn in the weather before Friday morning could delay the flight for a third time.

 

 

 

 

The shuttle-jet combo will be arriving from Dulles Airport in D.C. Since its retirement in 1985, Enterprise has served as a centerpiece at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The museum won possession of Discovery instead — unlike Enterprise, that shuttle has actually been to space — and the nation’s capital experienced a similar piggyback flight last week.

 

 

 

 

Of the two remaining shuttles, Endeavor is bound for Los Angeles and Atlantis is staying at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

 

 

 

 

WEEKEND FORECAST: Looking ahead to post-shuttle weather, the recent cool and cloudy stretch will stick around. But that doesn’t mean more rain is in the cards any time soon.

 

 

 

 

Weather models have continued to back off their previous predictions of rain on Friday, and a weaker companion storm scheduled to arrive Saturday is also diminishing. The combined forecast rainfall totals for both storms is now less than a tenth of an inch for the five boroughs.

 

 

 

 

A cool, dry and windy airmass will be moving through in the meantime, with north winds on Friday that could gust to near 30 mph and ruin the shuttle fun. Temperatures won’t break out of the 50s all weekend. An early morning freeze watch has also been posted for interior parts of the tri-state, like the Hudson Valley.

 

 

 

 

The dry forecast is coupled with new drought data released Thursday, which make it clear that last weekend’s super nor’easter barely dented the local dryness. While theNew Jersey’s drought didn’t budge at all. New York City, like New Jersey also remains in “moderate” drought, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.

 

 

 

 

Looking ahead, a medium-range weather outlook issued Thursday by the Climate Prediction Center shows below normal rainfall will continue through the end of next week or so."

 

 

 

 

 

 

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