r/BeAmazed • u/chinese_spongebob1 • 10h ago

Skill / Talent How was this all calculated?

16.1k Upvotes

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39

u/Pentecost_II 9h ago

They couldn't just have flown to the destination?

11

u/turbulentFireStarter 7h ago

Homeboy what. You think every museum has a runway next to it?

3

u/band-of-horses 7h ago

Just put them boosters on it and have it launch in reverse, no problems.

1

u/Impossible_Dog_7262 6h ago

...I know this was probably an entire event, but couldn't they have disasembled it and reassembled it at said museum?

6

u/mr_f4hrenh3it 6h ago

It’s likely way way way easier to just roll it in. Disassemble and rebuild an entire space shuttle? Without damaging or losing parts? And rebuilding it correctly?

1

u/YoureAmastyx 4h ago

Especially when it will inevitably be needed again in a last ditch effort to save humanity my taking a plucky group of misfit heroes into space. At least that’s what my time in sci-fi has taught me.

0

u/SlavojVivec 6h ago

Roll it in? From Washington DC to Texas? Are you fucking crazy? Did you not see the OP's video of how difficult it was to get a space shuttle from an airport to a local museum? How are you going to do that for half the entirety of the US? The planes used to move the Shuttles by air don't even exist anymore. The Shuttles cannot be moved anymore.

3

u/SlavojVivec 6h ago

That's what John Cornyn and Ted Cruz wanted to do to move Discovery from Washington DC to Texas, but they found out it's impossible to do without irreparable damage to the spacecraft. It's designed to survive trips to space and back, not to be chopped up and reassembled (such a design constraint would probably make it fall apart upon reentry).

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/14/nx-s1-5853114/a-virginia-group-wants-to-stop-nasas-space-shuttle-discovery-from-moving-to-texas

Similarly, there was a tapestry which got damaged when it was moved between museums:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/article/bayeux-tapestry-will-not-be-hung-again-after-britain-visit-minister/

1

u/Icy-Welcome-2469 1h ago

Building this thing was an absolute marvel.  Unbuilding it would be a disaster

Endeavor cost 1.7 billion to construct

1

u/WeBelieveIn4 5h ago

Bruh it isn’t lego

2

u/Impossible_Dog_7262 5h ago

I don't think it's an unreasonable thing to ask. It was assembled from pieces, it's surely worth considering returning it to those pieces and reassembling it.

1

u/Melodic_Success9980 4h ago

Sure, cause disassembly should be a feature for something that undergoes a lot of stress upon reentry into the atmosphere. I wonder if people don’t think these days

1

u/Impossible_Dog_7262 3h ago

Look I never said that it couldn't cause minor damage to components. It's not like the thing's supposed to be operable in a museum.

1

u/aggravated_patty 2h ago

Might as well melt the whole thing eh, it was made from aluminum in the first place.

1

u/MonsTurkey 6h ago

Most major air and space museums do have one reasonably close. Sometimes a few miles, but often closer.

However, large aircraft can present difficulties, and spacecraft are their own animal. As others mention, the modified 747s that ferried the orbiters are retired.

1

u/Oldnbold22 2h ago

Pardon me breh? You think the Space Shuttle tires aren't rotten? 

1

u/HoMasters 1h ago

I don’t remember the last time I heard or read the word homeboy. I think it was the 90s.