Hurley is now senior director of Northrop Grumman Space Systems, based in Utah, where he works on solid rocket boosters. He later served as spacecraft commander on the first crewed flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon in 2020 and stayed aboard the International Space Station for 62 days. The arrival of the rockets at the California Science Center marked 11 years to the day that the Space Shuttle Endeavour began its captivating crosstown journey from LAX to Exposition Park. He piloted the final space shuttle mission in 2011, aboard Atlantis, as well as a flight of Endeavour in 2009. Some special guests were also on hand, including former astronaut Douglas G. There, schoolchildren and adults alike gathered to cheer on the spectacle. Wednesday, and before their arrival around 9 a.m., the motors crept along Figueroa Street in South L.A. The solid rocket motors left Mojave on Tuesday morning and spent three hours traveling through the desert and the Cajon Pass before resting for about 15 hours in the San Gabriel Valley. Jeffrey Rudolph President and CEO of California Science Center looks at the Space Shuttle Endeavour after it was put in place at the site of the future Samuel Oschin Air. After more than a decade in a horizontal position inside the museum, it will be configured into a full-stack arrangement as if it were being prepared for launch at the new $400-million Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.Ĭalifornia Space shuttle Endeavour makes one more voyage to its final destination at a new space centerĪfter being on display at the California Science Center for more than a decade, the Endeavor began it’s final move to a new center as it’s permanent home. The retired NASA space shuttle Endeavour has been carefully hoisted into place at a Los Angeles science museum where it will be displayed as if it is about to blast off. The equipment will be a key component to the permanent exhibition of Endeavour, the last space shuttle built.
The debut marked the culmination of the NASA orbiters 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. The motors take up most of the length of the white solid rocket boosters, which are set beneath the space shuttle’s wings and produced more than 80% of lift during takeoff. OctoSpace shuttle Endeavour opened on public display Tuesday (Oct. The solid rocket motors - each weighing 104,000 pounds and the size of a Boeing 757 fuselage - came aboard two semi-trucks from the Mojave Air and Space Port, taking nine hours over two days and traversing seven Southern California freeways to arrive at the California Science Center in South L.A. With a festive celebration worthy of the stars, Los Angeles welcomed the arrival of massive twin rockets Wednesday, the final pieces of large equipment before the space shuttle begins to be fully assembled in a grand museum exhibit next year.