Space Shuttle Collides With Bridge In New York

First time accepted submitter AbrasiveCat writes "While transporting the space shuttle Enterprise to its new home at the Intrepid Museum, a gust of wind caught the shuttle and pushed a wing tip into the South Channel Subway Bridge. With any luck it was just the protective covering that was damaged. Ah, New York traffic."

It was on a boat

[wookaru]

The summary should reflect that the Space Shuttle was being transported on top of a barge at the time of collision. Very low speed impact, very little damage. Headline is misleadingly catastrophic.

Re:It was on a boat

[TWX]

Low speed doesn't mean little damage necessarily.

A barge is fairly heavy, and if it's being pulled with the current, there's a whole lot of energy behind it. The shuttle could act like the crumple zone on a car in a collision, essentially being crushed in the process of slowing or stopping the barge.

Ambiguities

[michaelmalak]

There are many ambiguities in the summary.

1. The bridge was over water, not a roadway.

2. This was neither caused by "New York traffic" nor did it disrupt (land) traffic.

3. The protective covering that was damaged was on the Enterprise, not the bridge.

4. You can view photos of the damage [collectspace.com] yourself.

Re:It was on a boat

[MBAFK]

This page is more informative and has the damage photos: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-060412a.html [collectspace.com]

Doesn't look too bad.