This article was written by Shannon Blackburn (formerly Shannon Moore) for NYCAviation.com, and is reprinted here with permission.

With a little help, a space shuttle took to the skies briefly on August 14 in Houston, Texas. Space Shuttle Independence was hoisted by the smallest of Mammoet Holding’s cranes, a 440-ton behemoth stabilized by 980,000 pounds of counterweights (more than the International Space Station would weigh on Earth). As hundreds of onlookers watched, the 171,860 pound (86 ton) replica orbiter gently rose off its mobile transporter and moved into place on the back of the NASA905 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. [Read more…]