Author Topic: Space & Rocket Center: Shuttle Pathfinder Robert Pearlman

Editor Posts: 44498

From: Houston, TX

Registered: Nov 1999 posted 02-03-2014 09:20 AM NASA STI Program video release This video introduces the Pathfinder Shuttle Exhibit, a joint project between the Marshall Space Flight Center and the State of Alabama's Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. The exhibit features a never flown shuttle vehicle, Pathfinder, that was used in early ground tests in the shuttle program, as well as an actual external fuel tank and set of booster rockets. The video includes footage of actual launches, the Pathfinder Shuttle Exhibit, and shots of the Space Camp at Alabama's Space and Rocket Center. Robert Pearlman

Editor Posts: 44498

From: Houston, TX

Registered: Nov 1999 posted 02-03-2014 09:30 AM The archival video provides a great early look at the Pathfinder. Did you know that two of its SSME nozzles flew on STS-1? The video precedes the addition of the solid rocket boosters, which are special unto themselves. As this photo, courtesy Scott "Shuttleman" Phillips, reveals, the solid rocket boosters used in the Pathfinder exhibit were assembled from the filament- wound cases designed and built for polar launches from Space Launch Complex-6 (SLC-6) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The dark filament was painted white to give the boosters the same appearance as those that launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Greggy_D

Member Posts: 980

From: Michigan

Registered: Jul 2006 posted 02-03-2014 02:56 PM quote: Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:

Did you know that two of its SSME nozzles flew on STS-1? No kidding. I've always thought they were replicas. Looking back now at the pics of Pathfinder I took when my daughter and I attended Space Camp in 2012, they do look pretty authentic if not real. That's a neat piece of trivia. p51

Member Posts: 1679

From: Olympia, WA

Registered: Sep 2011 posted 02-03-2014 06:38 PM I find this odd in a way, because they make a big deal about those being real. I've been to Space Camp twice with the adult program, and I've heard all about it each time. Jay Chladek

Member Posts: 2272

From: Bellevue, NE, USA

Registered: Aug 2007 posted 02-03-2014 10:31 PM The SRB nozzles and I believe possibly the nosecones from the original display were removed from Pathfinder and replaced either with replicas or other units that had concluded their operational use sometime in the early to mid 1990s. The basic hardware for those assemblies was the same as the standard SRBs. NASA and the contractor if I recall correctly as a cost cutting measure pulled them off for refurbishment as flight articles to help save a bit of money and not have to make a new set. I presume they got used, but don't know what missions they flew on. As for Pathfinder itself, it was essentially a fit check mockup built at KSC in the general dimensions of the shuttle to help make sure equipment and facilities designed for the shuttle would fit around it before Enterprise (and later Columbia) paid their first visits to KSC. Later, it was sent to Marshall to help with preparations for Enterprise's visit for the vibration testing. The Pathfinder didn't look much like a shuttle back then except for its general layout. It was rebuilt into something that resembled an orbiter more closely for a space display in Japan and the USSRC got ahold of it after it came back to the states. I personally never got a chance to see it up close (just a brief glimpse in 2011 on my way back from STS-131) as I went to Space Camp before they got it. But I remember reading the literature on the museum's plans for it quite well as it was mentioned in all the Space Camp newsletters I got after my visit. Robert Pearlman

Editor Posts: 44498

From: Houston, TX

Registered: Nov 1999 posted 02-04-2014 10:04 AM quote: Originally posted by Jay Chladek:

The Pathfinder didn't look much like a shuttle back then except for its general layout. For those not familiar with Pathfinder's original configuration, here are a few photos. SprocketCur

Member Posts: 12

From: Huntsville, AL

Registered: Mar 2011 posted 02-14-2014 09:50 AM Just to make sure all bases are covered, the ET under Pathfinder is also the same tank that was used in SSME qualification testing at Stennis in the lead up to STS-1. It was partnered with the SSME Thrust Structure (also referred to as the Main Propulsion Test Article and sometimes the "Boattail"), which now sits in Shuttle Park. You'll be glad to know that a complete re-vamp of all the signage in Shuttle Park is underway with corrected specs (it was shortened by about 3 feet for during the re-fit for Japan) on Pathfinder and other new/improved details! hotdog

Member Posts: 41

From: Chattanooga, TN

Registered: Dec 2011 posted 02-14-2014 09:29 PM Thanks for the info! That is good news. Looking forward to seeing the new signage in the Shuttle Park. I'm guessing Pathfinder was shortened by 3 feet for transportation reasons? I imagine that had to affect the mounting of the orbiter onto the ET since the forward attachment strut would probably have to be moved to compensate for the reduction in length. Robert Pearlman

Editor Posts: 44498

From: Houston, TX

Registered: Nov 1999 posted 08-21-2020 12:00 AM collectSPACE Rocket Center gets $500K grant to 'save' mock NASA space shuttle An early space shuttle mockup that was used in the test of NASA ground facilities before becoming part of a landmark public display has qualified as an "American Treasure" worthy of preservation and a half-a-million-dollar federal grant. The National Park Service (NPS) on Thursday (Aug. 20) announced that it was providing $500,000 towards the conservation and restoration of the space shuttle Pathfinder located at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. More than 40 years old, the mock orbiter is part of the world's first and currently only "full-stack" display of a space shuttle launch vehicle, and has been viewed by millions of people, including the hundreds of thousands of students who attended Space Camp at the rocket center. The award is part of $12.8 million in Save America's Treasures grants that are going this year to fund 42 preservation and conservation projects in 26 states. p51

Member Posts: 1679

From: Olympia, WA

Registered: Sep 2011 posted 08-21-2020 04:58 PM I'm very glad to hear this as Pathfinder needed some help the last time I saw it in 2018. Pathfinder is for the most part, an orbiter-looking shell that cost about a million dollars to display at the Great Space Shuttle Exposition in Tokyo during the summer of 1984, as NASA wouldn't give them the Enterprise or any other orbiter for the display there. Once it came back to the US, then the display was apparently decided upon at Huntsville. Though you can see if from the parking lot, you really have to go inside the fence to get a good look or any usable photo of it. Having gone to the Adult Space Camp there five times since 2012, I have seen it many times and the sight never gets old. Sadly, parts had fallen on the pilot's side wing and the last time I was there in 2018 the entire space underneath was roped off in case anything else fell off... I also took these in trips before: