Shuttle replica heads for Houston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 24 (UPI) -- A full-size replica space shuttle left NASA's Florida spaceport for its Texas space center early Thursday morning on an open air barge, the agency said.

Known as Explorer for the 18 years it was on show at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, the exact-copy mockup space shuttle is set to arrive at Houston's Clear Lake on June 1, collectSPACE.com reported.

From there it will travel to Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center, where visitors will be able to enter the shuttle's interior.

The mockup was built by Florida-based aerospace replica manufacturer Guard-Lee Inc., and is considered the closest to the real shuttles as any replica ever created.

Its departure made way for the arrival of the space shuttle Atlantis, which will go on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in summer 2013.