Month in Space: April 2012

NASA / Reuters
Enterprise hits the Big Apple

The prototype space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop its modified 747 carrier jet, is seen off in the distance behind the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building on April 27. Enterprise was the first shuttle built for NASA and performed test flights in the atmosphere, but was incapable of spaceflight. For years the craft was housed at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington. In April, it was moved out to make room for the shuttle Discovery. The Enterprise eventually will be put on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York.

ESA/NASA
Space strummer

NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, commander of the International Space Station, strums the strings of his guitar on April 14 during some weekend leisure time.

Lisa Warren / NASA/JPL via AP
Fireball over Nevada

A meteor blazes over Reno, Nev., at around 8 a.m. PDT on April 22. Reports of the fireball came in from as far north as Sacramento, Calif. and as far east as North Las Vegas, Nev. Bill Cooke of the Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center estimated that the object was about the size of a minivan, weighed in at around 154,300 pounds and at the time of disintegration released energy equivalent to a 5-kiloton explosion of TNT.