Look up, west, tomorrow

File this under once-in-a-lifetime opportunities right there with watching a rhinocerous piggy back riding on a hippopotamus: tomorrow morning sometime between 9:30-11:30am, we’ll finally get to see the much ballyhooed Enterprise spaceship fly over New York City mounted on top of the Shuttle Carrier aircraft. It’s scheduled (weather permiting) to cross the Hudson near the Statue of Liberty on its way to JFK. And if you’re wondering why a ship capable of traveling into the atmosphere needs to be carried on top of a 747 like so much bungee-corded family vacation luggage, you might understand why we don’t have a shuttle program any more. The ship is on the way to become part of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where you’re free to make as many Inspector Spacetime references as you like.

UPDATE: This NYP graphic says to expect the shuttle to pass by around 10:30am.