US space shuttle Enterprise makes final landing

NEW YORK - US space shuttle Enterprise made its final landing Wednesday at New York City's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum as it passed the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site and other Manhattan landmarks.

The shuttle atop a barge started its sailing from Jersey City and arrived at the Intrepid around 11:45 a.m. Wednesday morning. It took four hours for the Enterprise to be hoisted by crane and lowered onto the flight deck of the Intrepid at around 4 p.m.. It will be open to the public in mid-July.

Hundreds of people lined the west side waterfront to welcome Enterprise accompanied by a flotilla of vessels including a police boat, a Fire Department boat and a yellow taxi boat.

It was very interesting, and took quite a long time, but very worth to wait. We've actually been on it when we went to Kennedy Space Center and had a look at it. So we're quite excited to see it here today," an English tourist named Sharon told Xinhua, who has been waiting for hours near Intrepid to witness the shuttle's final landing.

According to a statement by Intrepid museum officials, a wingtip of the shuttle was damaged slightly on Sunday during its transit from John F. Kennedy Airport to Weeks Marine in Jersey City, where it was held until Tuesday. It has since been repaired.

The shuttle was on display at a Smithsonian Institute museum in Washington D.C. before taking flight from Virginia's Dulles International Airport on April 27 and making its final flight to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

Completed in 1976, Enterprise was designed as a prototype test vehicle. Test pilots demonstrated that it could fly and land in the atmosphere like airplanes, but the Enterprise never flew in space.

The Space Shuttle Enterprise, passes the Statue of Liberty as it rides on a barge in New York harbor, June 6, 2012.  [Photo/Agencies]