![]() Schoolchildren were among several hundred people who watched the move - the latest spectacle in the yearslong process of preparing to put Endeavour on permanent display vertically as if it was about to blast off. The 116-foot-long (35.3-meter) motors, which look like giant white cylinders, were trucked over two days from the Mojave Air and Space Port to LA's Exposition Park, where the California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is being built to display Endeavour.ĭonated by Northrop Grumman, the motors are the largest components of the two solid rocket boosters that would be attached to a space shuttle's external tank to help the main engines lift the orbiter off the launch pad. It was definitely worth seeing.LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two giant rocket motors required to display the retired NASA space shuttle Endeavour as if it's about to blast off arrived Wednesday at a Los Angeles museum, completing their long journey from the Mojave Desert. ![]() It connects well with the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit they have right now too. It had amazing aerial views of the city of Jerusalem and also took us throughout the inner city. It makes you feel like you’re there in real life! We got to see the Jerusalem documentary in 3D on their huge screen. There’s an aquarium lots of fun hands-on things for kids to do too!Īfter walking around the science center for a few hours, it was delightful to sit down and relax as we watched an IMAX show. There are other airplanes and satellites on display and even a meteorite rock that looks like solid gold. To me, the space shuttle is definitely the hottest attraction at the science center, but they have enough to see for a whole day. The Rest of the California Science Center It was fun to read about all the other other shuttle missions, including the 2 sad ones that ended fatally.Įven got to see the actual control center!Įach heat-resistant tile on the bottom of the space shuttle was individually created for it’s specific spot because of the curved shape of the underside. ![]() They say it pumps fuel so fast that it could empty a swimming pool in 25 seconds! The craziest thing is that it was engineered, designed, and built mainly with slide rules and hand-drawn prints! Computers then were less powerful than the average cell phone is today.Īs a mechanical engineer, I’m drawn to the complicated parts like the main engine here. It cost $2.5 billion dollars on top of it all! It’s hard to appreciate looking at something that has been to outer space and back many times with people inside it and has traveled a hundred million miles. They flew it to LAX on a special 747 airliner and then drove it through the streets of downtown to the museum. It flew from 1992 to 2011, and was retired to the California Science Center to be put on public display. component to the International Space Station. The Space Shuttle Endeavour successfully completed 25 missions into space, including the first service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as the first mission to add a U.S. The Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science CenterĪ Quick History of the Endeavour for Non-Space Buffs We were lucky to be able to visit it, and it was just as awe-inspiring as I remembered. It seems unreal that now everyone can see the Endeavour Space Shuttle up close and personal at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California. Especially as a little kid! Yep, that’s me with the huge binoculars hanging around my neck. The buildings rocked with 2 sonic booms and we knew it was coming in fast! Someone would point up in the sky and the crowd would watch silently as the glint of light slowly grew larger. ![]() We drove out to the Edwards Air Force Base, the alternate landing site in California, and joined thousands of people looking up at the sky, waiting for the little speck to appear from outer space. When I was 6 years old, I remember waking up hours before the roosters would start cackling to watch the Endeavour Space Shuttle land. 6 Aug, 2015 in United States tagged family by Landon
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