Space shuttle Enterprise flies by New York City (photos)
This shuttle's heyday was in 1977, when it proved the space plane design could actually fly. Now it's headed to retirement.
Jon Skillings
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
Last year, NASA's space shuttle fleet made its last forays into orbit. Now the remaining space planes are being moved to their final terrestrial resting places at a handful of museums in the United States. That group includes the shuttle Enterprise, which in 1977 made several flights in Earth's atmosphere as a proof of concept -- it never actually flew into space.
Today, the Enterprise made its final flight, headed to JFK Airport in New York, piggyback aboard NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. In June, it will ride a barge up the Hudson River to the city's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. CNET photographer Sarah Tew captured the fly-by from a vantage point in Hoboken, N.J.
