Dynamic

The Apollo-era Dynamic Test Stand at Marshall Space Flight Center is about to see use again: for the testing of Ares I, part of NASA’s Constellation program of post-shuttle spaceflight. NASA shows the then and now, in photos, of which the above is one:

Beginning in 1978, the space shuttle Enterprise was hoisted into Marshall’s Dynamic Test Stand for vertical ground vibration testing in a launch configuration. (NASA/MSFC)

I was always quite fond of Space Shuttle Enterprise (which never flew in space, but was used for testing), as it guards the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, where Space Camp (and Academy, for older kids) is held. I spent two glorious summers in the Alabama heat, under the shadow of Enterprise, atop an external tank and two un-fuel-filled SRBs. (The first summer I was there, in 1994, the ET underside was coated in pennies — the foam is soft enough that they stick, edge-on. The next summer they’d recoated it, boo.)