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Under the oversight of Dennis Jenkins, a veteran of NASA's shuttle program, together with a team of his former colleagues, the science center's "Go for Stack" effort erected the two solid rocket boosters in a series of three lifts in July, November and December 2023.
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by way of the Panama Canal) and obtain two flight-proven solid rocket boosters from Northrop Grumman, but also raise the estimated $400 million needed for Endeavour's new home, a reality made possible by a long list of donors led by the Mr. To achieve that goal, the science center not only had to source NASA's last built-for-flight external tank (bringing it L.A. For the past 12 years, the iconic spacecraft had been exhibited raised off the floor on its wheels, but from the start the plan was to permanently showcase Endeavour in its vertical, launch-like configuration. (Image credit: California Science Center)įirst proposed by the science center staff as an a pie-in-the-sky exhibit back in the 1990s, the path to erecting a space shuttle in Exposition Park began becoming a reality with NASA's decision to award Endeavour to the science center for display. "I think we all feel a huge sigh of relief knowing that the hardest part of this whole project and the thing that's never been done before on a site like this is now behind us."Ī sling and crane hold Endeavour in place as fine adjustments are made to align and attach the winged orbiter to its external tank and solid rocket boosters for display inside the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, Tuesday, Jan. "It is just so exciting to have actually completed this and to see a 30-year dream fulfilled," said Jeffrey Rudolph, president and chief executive officer of the California Science Center, in an interview with. The stacking process, which was commonly done to prepare for launches when the space shuttle program was active, was carried out this last time to erect Endeavour's display in the still under construction Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center. 29-30), two large cranes carefully lifted NASA's retired winged orbiter Endeavour off a Los Angeles side street into the air and then lowered it onto an already-standing external tank with twin solid rocket boosters. Overnight Monday into the early hours of Tuesday (Jan.
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The California Science Center Foundation is actively fundraising to complete the 200,000-square-foot structure, having raised $360 million of its $400 million goal.A complete space shuttle is standing upright for the first time in more than a decade. Endeavour will be the only retired space shuttle to be displayed in liftoff position, highlighting the exhibitions in the new building when it opens to the public. The groundbreaking for the 20-story Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center occurred in the spring of 2022, and the building is expected to be completed in mid-2025. The Space Shuttle came to California in 2012, mounted atop a Boeing 747 that landed at LAX before completing a 12-mile journey across the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center, where an estimated 18 million people have already visited the orbiter in a temporary display. He reports that the maneuver had to be executed when there was almost no wind, and at night “because once the sun comes up, you get the pressure difference in the atmosphere.” Participants in the project were joined by press and local residents who came out to watch, either from the ground or nearby rooftops. The team had also considered an approach that would involve backing the orbiter into the facility and then lifting it to the vertical position, but the option that they chose was considered safer while giving them more control, explains Kenneth Phillips, the California Science Center’s curator of aerospace science. California Science Center Breaks Ground on Future Home of Space Shuttle EndeavourĮndeavour’s move was carefully planned with help from NASA engineers.