Over the past weekend, crews at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida began moving Space Shuttle Explorer in preparations for its move to Johnson Space Center in Texas. While Explorer is a full-scale orbiter, it was not built from actual shuttle components and was used as a “visitor” experience at KSC.

Despite Houston being snubbed during the selection process for the final locations of Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavour, and Enterprise, the consolation prize of receiving Explorer comes with one benefit the other locations won’t have. Explorer was built to actually allow people inside the mock-up, so it will most likely be the only shuttle attraction that will actually allow visitors to step inside.

One other shuttle mock-up (fuselage and cargo bay only – no wings) will be headed to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

If you’d like to learn more about Space Shuttle Explorer, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Explorer