NASA's prototype space shuttle Enterprise made one last journey Wednesday as it was brought over from Port Elizabeth in New Jersey to its new home at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. NY1's Tara Lynn Wagner filed the following report.

The Enterprise had quite an entourage as it arrived at its final frontier. But by far the biggest piece of equipment on the Hudson River was not the 137-foot space shuttle prototype but the massive crane that would hoist it onto the flight deck of the Intrepid.

"Every minute of this process has been engineered to the 100th degree," said Susan Marenoff-Zausner, the president of the Intrepid Museum. "At the end of the day, when this thing is being lifted, it's like a ballet."

That ballet was performed by the same crane and crew that pulled Sully Sullenberger's plane from the Hudson and also transported material from the World Trade Center site after the September 11th attacks. Wednesday, the crane again assisted history as two vehicles with a role in the space program sat along side one another.

"In a very direct way, we have space history," Marenoff-Zausner said. "We've brought in two astronauts and space capsules from Mercury and Gemini missions in the 1960s."

Once next to the ship, it was another few hours of tying and tightening and then lift off as the shuttle took to the air one last time. Its final flight was a short one from barge to flight deck.

"It's a great day for NYC and for NASA and for America," said NASA Deputy Adminstrator Lori Garver. "This is a true icon of the wonderful space shuttle program."

For now, the shuttle is out in the open but it won't be that way for long. Museum officials say they'll begin inflating a temporary structure around the shuttle over the next few days, one that will look like a tennis bubble on the outside but promises to be quite impressive on the inside.

"We'll have exhibits to tell the story of the shuttle, the space program," Marenoff-Zausner said. "Really challenge our minds about the future of space."

"Enterprise helped us test the space shuttle program, which gave us the International Space Station, which today, we have 6 astronauts and cosmonauts living and working permanently in space," Garver said. "So being able to share the shuttle today is a beautiful day for America."

The exhibit, which is co-sponsored by NY1's parent company, Time Warner Cable, will open to the public on July 19.

Enterprise Photo Gallery

View NY1 viewers' shots of the Enterprise's voyage from New Jersey to the USS Intrepid