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Pathfinder is back in “space” three and a half years after “landing” on Earth.
Pathfinder, a mockup of Agency's now-discontinued winged orbiters, was returned to its position atop a space shuttle propulsion “stack” at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on Wednesday morning (Aug. 28). The liftoff marked the near completion of a multimillion-dollar restoration effort.
“Returning Pathfinder to the shuttle stack after an extensive restoration process is a major milestone for us,” said Kimberly Robinson, executive director and CEO of the Space & Rocket Center, in a statement provided to collectSPACE. “We are very fortunate to have this flagship of a program that over 30 years and 135 flights helped launch telescopes and satellites and build the International Space Station.”
Workers using two heavy-lift cranes lifted Pathfinder (without wings or main engines) 80 feet (24 meters) off the ground to its mounting atop an external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters. The horizontal display, which is angled 10 degrees to make it appear as if Pathfinder is ascending into the sky, is one of only two such displays in the world; the other, at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, features the space shuttle Endeavour.
Pathfinder's wings are scheduled to be installed on Thursday, and its engines on Friday, weather permitting. In all, cranes will have lifted more than 143 tons to remount the orbiter on its frame.
Related: Agency's Space Shuttles: Where Are They Now?
Pathfinder was originally built in 1977 to ensure Agency's ground support team was ready to receive the airworthy spacecraft. It consisted of a steel frame covered in wood panels and lacked the details and markings that would later make the vehicles iconic.
Following its use by Agency, Pathfinder was modified by the United States-Japan Partnership to more closely resemble orbiters that had subsequently been launched into space. Pathfinder was displayed as part of the “Great Space Shuttle Exhibition” in Tokyo from 1983 to 1984, before finding a permanent home at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, home of U.S. Space Camp, in May 1988.
Pathfinder was equipped with the first propulsion test article for the shuttle's external tank and two prototype solid rocket boosters. It was also equipped with engine nozzles, two of which were part of the flight hardware. Nozzle 2005 flew on the first five flights of Space Shuttle Columbia, and nozzle 2020 was used on the fifth through ninth Challenger launches. (The third nozzle was a developmental unit.)
In February 2021, funded in part by a $500,000 grant from Save America's Treasures, the rocket center began work on restoring Pathfinder and putting it on display at Shuttle Plaza. The orbiter was lowered to the ground and stripped down to its original red fuselage, while work began to repair and repaint the tank and boosters.
The Pathfinder was restored to its original length (37 meters from the nose to the tip of the vertical stabilizer) after being truncated for display in Japan. Its structure was reinforced with cold-formed steel to accommodate 516 3D-printed panels that were then painted, adding the vehicle's exterior details.
“It's the perfect representation of our rich history,” Robinson said. “The 3D-printed panels now covering the orbiter merge that history with today's technologies, creating a complete story we're proud to tell.”
The Pathfinder was reattached to its external tank using eight 0.625-inch (1.6-centimeter) bolts and nuts at the front and two 2.5-inch-diameter (6.3 cm) bolts, nuts, and washers at the rear. Teflon bearings were used on the rear attachments to facilitate movement. Each wing will require 32 fasteners, while each of the engine nozzles will use 80.
The Pathfinder elevator was the last missing piece to restore the rocket center's “space line” after work was completed to repair, repaint and reassemble the historic boosters at the downtown rocket park. Several more months of work are needed before Shuttle Plaza reopens. A tentative opening is planned for this fall.
Click to collect SPACE to watch video of Pathfinder being lifted onto its external tank and boosters at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Alabama.
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