Here's some pics from Space Center Houston, the visitor center for the Johnson Space Center in Houston, that I took a couple weeks ago... These are pictures of the work they're doing on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft display that will be the centerpiece out front of the SCH building...
The orbiter is a full-scale model built for the Kennedy Space Center visitor center in Florida. Since they were getting the Discovery orbiter upon her retirement (which has since been mothballed and moved to permanent display in the KSC Visitor Center), this model was sent to Houston as a "consolation prize" for Houston not getting an orbiter of its own for display. The model was barged in about a year or two ago, and moved across the street from the barge slip to the SCH grounds. It was displayed as it was in Florida, sitting on its wheels as it would appear on the runway at "wheels stop" after a mission.
After the retirement of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA's), Houston got one of the SCA's for its display. The decision was then taken to display the faux orbiter atop the SCA in "transport mode" as the shuttles were hauled from California to Florida. The SCA was flown into Ellington Field a few miles from JSC/SCH, and then cut into sections and transported in pieces to SCH and reassembled on-site in the orbiter model's "display spot". The orbiter model itself had been moved to the far end of the parking lot behind a fence for modification to be displayed on top of the SCA. Since the orbiter model was designed for display with the "wheels down", it required modification to remove the landing gear wheels and install mounting points equivalent to those on a real orbiter used to attach it to the External Tank, since these same mounts are used to attach the orbiter to an SCA. The model is having these mounts installed so it can be mounted atop the SCA, which has been brought in and largely reassembled (less engines so far) over by the SCH main building. The next step is to use cranes to lift the orbiter model atop the SCA and permanently mount it there. This is scheduled for later this year. Then, once the display is completed, eventually there will be an access tower built alongside the SCA/orbiter display to access the large side doors of the orbiter model, which was designed for access by visitors through a large doorway in its right-hand side, unlike the real orbiters
of course. I don't know if there will be access allowed into the SCA itself or not.
It's interesting, but like virtually ALL the shuttle displays, rather nonsensical and very poorly thought out. The only shuttle display that makes much sense is the display of Discovery, as the most flown orbiter, in the Udvar-Hazy center of the Smithsonian. The display of Enterprise, sitting out rotting in the salt air of an aircraft carrier museum deck in New York, which has already been damaged by a hurricane, is shameful and stupid. Atlantis is sitting in a beautiful new center addition in Florida at KSC, but tilted up on its side with the payload bay doors open as if "flying in space". Endeavor has been moved to California and is awaiting mounting to a mockup of the External Tank and faux shuttle boosters as if "ready for launch". Houston got no orbiter despite every shuttle flight being controlled from "tower clear" to "wheel stop" from Houston, as well as all the astronaut training and the majority of the manned space program being run from Houston... it got KSC's orbiter model as a consolation prize and an SCA thrown in rather than scrapping it outright.
IMHO, the displays would have made MUCH better historical sense had they followed the shuttle program flows in the displays themselves. Discovery, as the most-flown surviving orbiter, should be in the Smithsonian, no doubt there. Having Enterprise in New York rotting on an aircraft carrier, only a couple hours by train from the Smithsonian in DC, just defies all logic and is patently stupid IMHO... Enterprise should have gone to California, mounted atop the SCA, for a display there-- after all, the shuttles were built at the Rockwell North American plants there in Downey, CA, and transported by air via SCA to Florida for launching, as well as all the shuttles that landed at Edwards AFB during the early shuttle program before the Florida landing site was ready. Also, the Approach and Landing Test Program was conducted at Edwards during the 70's, where the SCA carried Enterprise aloft and then released it to glide down to a landing on the runways at Edwards prior to the first shuttle launch in 1981. It makes perfect sense for the California display to be atop an SCA, and Enterprise displayed there atop it in the ALT test program configuration. Florida, from which every shuttle launched, should have gotten an orbiter to be displayed on a test External Tank and empty booster casings (or faux boosters) in "launch configuration"... this would have made MUCH more sense than having such a display in earthquake prone California, from which not a single shuttle was ever launched... despite billions being spent on the SLC-6 shuttle pad at Vandenberg AFB for military polar-orbit shuttle missions which never occurred. That would leave a single orbiter for display in Houston, home of Mission Control and the Manned Spaceflight Center, most logically displayed as if "flying in space", which is precisely where most of the Johnson Space Center's training, operations, and contribution to the space program lay... KSC's "model" could still have gone to rot on an aircraft carrier in New York...
Of course, since it's a government operation, for it to make any sense is expecting too much...
Later! OL JR