KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Granted, moving Atlantis, the last of the retired space shuttles, won’t be as difficult as Endeavour’s recent, and tortuous, trip through Los Angeles. That journey required the chopping down of hundreds of trees — and Endeavour arrived 16 hours behind schedule.
Still, moving Atlantis 9.8 miles won’t be easy.
“You’re talking about 165,000 pounds, a national treasure, a priceless artifact. … No pressure?” said Tim Macy, director of project development and construction for Delaware North Cos., which operates the Kennedy Space Center visitors complex in Florida.
Atlantis will be moved at 2 mph on an apparatus used in the 1980s for transporting the orbiter from Kennedy Space Center to the nearby visitors complex Nov. 2. Tickets for an up-close view of the shuttle are selling for $90 for adults.
Shuttles already have been delivered to Los Angeles, New York and the Washington, D.C., area.
