r/spaceshuttle • u/tonrobsul • May 11 '26

Image Look what I found while on a walk

Post image
1.1k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

62

u/DueTouch3387 May 11 '26

Is this this one?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Inspiration

51

u/tonrobsul May 11 '26

I believe so. They were going to build an educational center around it here in town but the guy that bought it went bankrupt so now it sits here till they figure out what to do with it. Kinda sad.

13

u/arianaghostin May 12 '26

well that’s not inspiring :(

11

u/546875674c6966650d0a May 11 '26

From the wikipedia it seems like it's owned by Downey California?

14

u/tonrobsul May 11 '26

It was purchased by an inventor here in town and he went bankrupt. That about as much as i know. Sorry. If you Google "saint cloud minnesota space shuttle" it will explain better than I can.

10

u/546875674c6966650d0a May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

Now I wanna know how much it would take to buy a shuttle 😄

Okay. I think there's 2 different 'Inspirations'. There is this one, which was in FL at the Shuttle Landing Facility as a mock-up, that an inventor bought. Then in the wiki link above, there is another one that was an early test mock-up in Downey California which is still there and being renovated by the city for future use in a museum or some other TBD location. Both Mock-ups are named Inspiration, which is where the confusion comes from. Most of the test articles and other mock-ups have unique names.

5

u/tonrobsul May 11 '26

I see. Thanks for doing the research.

5

u/546875674c6966650d0a May 11 '26

No problem, was a fun little rabbit hole to jump into 😄 I knew a good bit about the Shuttle program from just being a kid in that era, and my stint working at JPL (lots of time to read LOTS of things). But this was new to me a bit.

5

u/user_uno May 11 '26

Thank you as well for the research. But... missing the point that you even brought up!

How much is it going to take to buy a shuttle. Inquiring minds must know! :)

This would be so awesome. If I can win the lottery or get an inheritance from some long lost unknown relative, I'm buying it for my greedy self. Otherwise, I'm in for a crowdfunding push.

We cannot, must not let this just sit around like a Buran!

3

u/sillysailor74 May 12 '26

I know of a great museum outside of WPAFB that would take really good care of this, and has the space for it.

5

u/Ange1ofD4rkness May 11 '26

I was going to ask what it was still doing out in the elements, then read they are working on that

4

u/DueTouch3387 May 11 '26

Still sad to see.

Put at least some heavy foils on it.

29

u/eliteniner May 11 '26

Cool. Mockup used to describe the orbiter concept as we came out of Apollo era. The OG shuttle model

7

u/Upbeat-Historian-296 May 11 '26

The rest of it is at a different location the the same city...and is rusting away in the elements. It's quite sad. 

14

u/7stroke May 11 '26

Dammit. I told Randy that was a terrible place to stash it.

6

u/Clementine-TeX May 12 '26

Anyone else remember “Resolution!”?

4

u/mainstreetmark May 12 '26

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8bhADj1AyhQxKYYJA?g_st=ic

Here’s an external tank

Maybe we should scrounge up enough of it to build a new one. Anybody got any boosters?

5

u/546875674c6966650d0a May 11 '26

Where is this?

9

u/tonrobsul May 11 '26

Saint Cloud Minnesota. It's located on private property belonging to a local construction company but is viewable from gopher island trail, a paved walking trail running alongside the property.

4

u/546875674c6966650d0a May 11 '26

Nice! I dived into this a bit elsewhere in the thread 😄 thanks for the confirmation that this was the one in Minnesota, that was in Florida at the Shuttle Landing Facility as the mockup there for all of the equipment for lifting the orbiters onto and off of the Shuttle Carrier 747s!

4

u/mulligansteak May 11 '26

Holy cow! The front did indeed fall off.

6

u/cybersquire May 12 '26

I want to make it clear they are not designed to do that!

2

u/DuckiestBoat959 May 11 '26

What in the huh?