Shuttle Endeavour gets to be the first shuttle flipped vertically, without NASA.52-ton space shuttle rocket motors will roll through LA Wednesday to reunite with Endeavour.The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center that will house the display will then be constructed around it, with opening planned in 2025. The final component will be the delicate move of the shuttle itself across Exposition Park and the use of a crane to lift it into its vertical display, which will tower 200 feet into the air. The next phase will be the move of the rocket motors and other components of the Solid Rocket Boosters into vertical position, followed by the placement of the External Fuel Tank, known as ET-94, into place. The six-month process began in July with the installation of the rocket booster aft skirts.

CSC officials in July officially began the process of creating the vertical display, in what they have dubbed a “Go for Stack” process. All of the launch components - the shuttle, rocket boosters and fuel tank - will be included in the vertical display of Endeavour at its new home in the $400 million, 200,000-square-foot Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.ĭelivery of the Solid Rocket Motors is one of the last major components needed for the arrangement. The rocket motors are the major components of the twin Solid Rocket Boosters that were used to propel the shuttles into space, using fuel from a connected massive external tank. The arrival of the motors will occur 11 years to the day that Endeavour began its captivating cross-town journey from LAX to the Science Center. Boulevard at 8 a.m., they will pause for an extended photo opportunity before officially moving to the Science Center at 9 a.m. The Science Center will open early at 9 a.m. When the motors reach Martin Luther King Jr. the rocket motors will be hauled north on Figueroa Street from 43rd Place to 39th Street. The public is being invited to view the arrival as the motors are hauled off the Harbor (110) Freeway and driven along Figueroa Street and into the California Science Center on Wednesday morning.īeginning at 7:30 a.m. Motorists got an eyeful as the motors, each measuring 116 feet long and more than 12 feet in diameter, rolled toward the city. Heavy-duty big rigs pulled the massive engines - donated by Northrop Grumman - from hangars where they’d been stored at the Mojave Air and Space Port north of Lancaster and set out on the road to L.A. 10 to a high-profile - and eventually vertical - reunion with the Space Shuttle Endeavour in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. 'This is just a fantastic day for California, a fantastic day for Los Angeles, and a fantastic day for the United States, as we can share this great use of our intellect and treasure with the world from one of the world's most wonderful cities,' added Nye.Īccording to the California Science Center, as many as 7,000 visitors will tour the space shuttle Endeavour's display daily now that it is open.Two mammoth space-age Solid Rocket Motors started their journey on Tuesday, Oct. His question was met with cheers and applause. 'How about the Endeavour? Isn't she beautiful?' Bill Nye, 'The Science Guy' and executive director of The Planetary Society, asked the schoolchildren and invited guests who gathered under the orbiter for the grand opening of the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion. The debut marked the culmination of the NASA orbiter's journey into retirement and the launch of its new mission to inspire a new generation of scientists, engineers and explorers.

30) at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Space shuttle Endeavour opened on public display Tuesday (Oct.

Pics of space shuttle endeavour