Moving Jupiter - Aligning the Stack

It was then that Smithsonian photographer Jeff Tinsley, at a vantage point from the floor dead ahead of Jupiter, saw something odd: "Say, guys, the smokestack is crooked." Susan Tolbert inspected; Jeff Grooms applied a bubble level. Everyone agreed: Tinsley was right. The stack was noticeably leaning several degrees out of plumb. And no amount of adjusting the stack in its existing bolt holes would correct it. Clearly, however, the stack flange, the bolts, and marks by Tolbert and Jones showed that the stack was in the same position it had been for the last 23 years.

With the forklift holding the stack's weight, Jones and Hutt took out the bolts and turned the stack 180 degrees. This time, it came to rest with perfect verticality - both according to Tinsley's eye and to Grooms' level applied at several points. Fortunately, four of six bolts still fit properly and snugly; the other bolt holes were hopelessly out of alignment. In all the years at A&I, no one had ever noticed the tilted stack.

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