Space Shuttle Pathfinder

The Pathfinder was built as an "orbiter simulator" on which to practice lifting and handling techniques at both Marshall Space Flight Center and Kennedy Space Center. After several years of storage, a group of Japanese businessmen paid to have it modified to more closely resemble an actual orbiter for the "Great Space Shuttle Exposition" in Tokyo. After the expo, it was brought to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center for display.

According to a USSRC fact sheet, the Pathfinder display is the only full-scale Space Shuttle "stack". It weighs 222 tons. The display's external tank was the first one manufactured and was used for main engine tests at Stennis Space Center. The display originally included standard SRBs which were built for testing purposes. NASA later reclaimed the SRBs and provided the models currently on display. Two of the engines mounted on Pathfinder powered Columbia's first flight in 1981.

As of now, I have not yet sorted through all of my pictures of the Pathfinder, but some other page references this location. Thus, this is a "place holder" version right now, with only the pictures actually referenced. Come back some time later to see if I've finished up, or drop me an email to request me to prioritize the rest of these pictures.