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  Space shuttle Enterprise appearances changes

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Author Topic:   Space shuttle Enterprise appearances changes
Rocket Chris
Member

Posts: 411
From: Guttentag
Registered: Nov 2009

posted 03-07-2022 06:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Rocket Chris   Click Here to Email Rocket Chris     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Since I haven't found any satisfactory answers on the internet after a long search, I wonder if anyone knows why the frames of the space shuttle Enterprise's cockpit windows were changed from the original white to black for the exhibition?

Were there any other visual changes made? Doesn't this change the historical context and the original look?

For me the black border of the cockpit windows somehow doesn't look right as the pure white "face" of the enterprise was typical. So, curious for answers.

randy
Member

Posts: 2551
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 03-07-2022 08:03 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for randy   Click Here to Email randy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My guess would be so that it more closely resembles the real thing.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 47940
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 03-07-2022 08:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Dennis Jenkins confirms Randy's guess in "Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon," describing the alterations done to Enterprise in Palmdale in 1979:
Workers also applied a new coat of paint and slightly modified markings that included substantially more black on the vertical stabilizer and forward fuselage in an attempt to look more like OV-102.
After NASA transferred Enterprise to the National Air and Space Museum in 1985, it again underwent a restoration in 2004. Following Smithsonian practice, Enterprise was maintained in the configuration it was received, rather than reverting it to its earlier appearance. Again, from Jenkins:
The team also faithfully traced all of the fuselage markings, sanded the fuselage, painted a new topcoat, and then reapplied the markings as they appeared for the Paris Air Show in 1984.

Rocket Chris
Member

Posts: 411
From: Guttentag
Registered: Nov 2009

posted 03-07-2022 10:23 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Rocket Chris   Click Here to Email Rocket Chris     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Oh, now I see that this was the original appearance but not the well known configuration. Gee, learned something today.

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