Space shuttle Enterprise sails to Manhattan

NEW YORK (AP) — New Yorkers lined the West Side waterfront to welcome the space shuttle Enterprise as it sailed up the Hudson River on Wednesday to its new home aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

The prototype space shuttle rode a barge from Jersey City, N.J. to the Intrepid, where it was being hoisted by crane onto the flight deck.

A flotilla of vessels including a police boat, a Fire Department boat and a yellow taxi boat accompanied the Enterprise as it sailed past the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site and other Manhattan landmarks en route to the Intrepid at midtown

“I've never seen a space shuttle, and I'm looking at one,” said Thomas Hoffler, 69, who described himself as homeless. "I'm just spellbound.

Fashion photographer Stewart Shining, 47, said his young nephews in California had emailed him to ask if he could see the Enterprise.

“I just walked over and had a peep and took some pictures,” he said.

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