The Pathfinder is a one-of-a-kind testing artifact created to develop procedures for moving and handling the space shuttle orbiters. Also known as Orbital Vehicle-098, the artifact is a steel structure roughly the size, weight and shape of an orbiter. Constructed at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in 1977, the article, later named Pathfinder, was used as a stand-in for the first orbiter, Enterprise (OV-101), to test roads and cranes. It was shipped by barge to Kennedy Space Center to be used for ground crew testing before returning to Marshall Space Flight Center where it was stored for many years.
A group of Japanese businessmen paid to modify the structure to more closely resemble a real orbiter and displayed it from 1983-1984 at an exposition in Tokyo, Japan. After the expo, Pathfinder returned to Huntsville, Alabama, and has been on permanent display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center since May 1988. It is mounted to the Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA) External Tank, also an artifact, used for early tanking tests.
