Under blue skies, a barge bearing the space shuttle prototype Enterprise powered up the Hudson River Wednesday morning, past the New York skyline -- arriving midday at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

Visitors crowded the area around the museum to get a close look at the Enterprise, which never flew in space but was used in landing tests in the 1970s.

“I just remember from my childhood, the shuttles taking off and, now that this is kind of the final resting ground for this one, I’m just very excited to see one up close and personal and to watch the process of loading it onto the Intrepid,” said Nancy de Camp..

“I think it’s an amazing thing that New Yorkers now are going to have this as a piece of history,” said Joe Danziger.

“I think it’s cool that we have the technology to go to space and what we might find out,” said Alejandra Terrero.

“It’s a very really remarkable piece of engineering, the space shuttle, so I really wanted to see that up close,” said Ziad Amin.

“I actually thought it might have been bigger, but I was impressed by the wings on it and just how they built it, and it was really shiny,” said Christopher Lang.

In a delicate operation, a floating crane hoisted the massive spacecraft aloft from the barge and swung it over to land it on the deck of the aircraft carrier Intrepid. That will be its home in retirement -- a lasting memory of the U.S.’s space shuttle program, now ended. The exhibit will open to museum visitors in mid-July.