(Image: Columbia Memorial Space Center; Space Shuttle Inspiration mockup while on display in Downey)
Throughout the service life of NASA’s Space Shuttle programme, two impressive full size orbiter replicas have been displayed for visitors at the Kennedy Space Center and the US Astronaut Hall of Fame in Florida. Another engineering mockup, Pathfinder, can be seen at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Meanwhile, at Dulles Airport’s Udvar-Hazy Center, shuttle prototype Enterprise took pride of place before being replaced by Discovery when the three surviving operational shuttles were retired from space flight in 2011.
But an older full scale Space Shuttle mockup, which played a far more hands-on role in the NASA programme than most orbiter replicas, remained largely unknown to the general public for decades until resurfacing in recent years. Since that time, the fate of Space Shuttle Inspiration has been somewhat up in the air.
(Image: Aaron Harvey – website; the orbiter mockup at Rockwell’s Downey plant)
Inspiration was built in 1972 by North American Rockwell (now part of Boeing) at the company’s plant in Downey, California. Crafted mainly from wood and plastic, the 122 foot-long by 35 foot-tall model was used to fit-check payloads, instruments and other in-flight hardware that would ultimately be pressed into service on operational orbiters.
Construction of the originally-unnamed Space Shuttle mockup also helped cement Rockwell’s bid to secure the contract to build NASA’s orbiters back in the early 1970s. Work on prototype shuttle Enterprise began in 1974, followed by the first space-worthy orbiter Columbia the following year.
With the flight programme underway and more orbiters rolling off the production line – the final one being Endeavour in 1992 as a replacement for Challenger, which was tragically destroyed on lift-off in 1986 – Space Shuttle Inspiration was retained by Rockwell at its Downey assembly plant, but was largely unknown to those unconnected with the NASA space programme.
(Image: Aaron Harvey – website; Inspiration pictured in 1974 as a test article)
In addition to its ground test duties, the Space Shuttle mockup also doubled as a PR tool when government officials and astronauts visited the facility. But when the plant closed down in 1999 with the building that housed Inspiration was converted into a movie studio, the orphaned aerospace artifact was pushed to the side. Less its port wing and tail fin, which had been removed shortly after construction, Space Shuttle Inspiration was disassembled and placed into storage at the historic site, where all of NASA’s orbiters had been built.
There it would remain for more than a decade as NASA’s three surviving operational orbiters – Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour – completed their final space flights and the Space Shuttle programme came to an end on July 21, 2011. But as museums vied for the retired orbiters and other replicas, Inspiration remained literally under wraps.
(Image: InSapphoWeTrust; Since its early years the mockup has lacked its vertical stabiliser and left wing)
That was until around 2012, when Industrial Realty Group (IRG) acquired 77 acres of the former North American Rockwell facility in Downey in a bid to build a shopping mall on the historic site. Demolition of Downey Studios began later that year and Inspiration emerged from the shadows as plans were made for its preservation and display.
Under the terms of the contract, the Space Shuttle mockup was to be kept on site. But when city officials reportedly accepted an offer of $100,000 from IRG to move the orbiter, a temporary home was found in the form of a massive tent adjacent to the Columbia Memorial Space Center, an educational attraction established in 2009 on a corner of the historic Downey site.
(Image: InSapphoWeTrust; Inspiration’s wooden construction has deteriorated over the years)
The tent allowed visitors to see the Space Shuttle mockup – which for decades played an important role in the NASA programme – up close for the first time in Inspiration’s history. It was also around this time that the previously unnamed test article was christened – not to be confused with another full scale orbiter mockup called Inspiration, which is on display at the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in Florida.
According to the Long Beach Press Telegram, the city of Downey received a $3 million federal loan in 2013 in order to establish an Inspiration Neighborhood Center. But as of March 6, 2014 the Space Shuttle mockup was back in storage at the city’s maintenance yard.
(Image: InSapphoWeTrust; pictured in its temporary tent accommodation before returning to storage)
It’s understood that city officials were at the time debating how much money to allocate for the role of an executive director to oversee the proposed facility. As 2016 gets underway, however, it seems that the city-owned shuttle continues to languish in storage as the local authorities work to secure its restoration. Throughout its life as a test article and in storage, the wood-framed craft has deteriorated and shown signs of delamination and buckling. It’s been reported that the cost of refurbishing Inspiration is estimated at around $1 million.
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