Discovery

Interesting photographs!

Every Shuttle I have seen built as a model looks factory fresh. Obviously the heat resistant tiles weather (heat damage) quite a bit. If to build as a model one would need the supporting photographs to show how it actually looks. The only bright white part I see is the cone fitted over the rocket nozzles for aerodynamic transport purposes.

Very interesting detail shots. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

It was surprising to me to see how worn she was. I guess thats what 39 missions to orbit will do.

It does not come out well in the photos, but you can really see the scaring on the heat shield tiles from reentry.

I was surprised to see the engine fairing still on.

Yes, NASA left it dirty so people could see what it really looked like after all those missions.  I heard they gutted her out, even the engines, which is a shame.

They kept the engines because they plan to reuse them on a future program.

I'm not surprised that they removed components, including the engines.  It fits what NASA has done in the past to stretch their budget as much as possible.  Several spacecraft over the past 20 years or so have used spare parts originally intended for other programs.  Even the shuttle Challenger was originally started as a spare for glide tests.

Thanks for the pics! They really show off what a work horse the shuttles were.