![]() ![]() ![]() It began in July with precise installation of the bottom segments of the side boosters, known as aft skirts, for the first time outside of a NASA facility. The process of assembling the shuttle system in vertical configuration was dubbed "Go for Stack," an informal term for putting together rocket components for launch. A groundbreaking ceremony for the Air and Space Center was held in 2022 on the 11th anniversary of Endeavour's final return from space. The shuttle was initially displayed horizontally in a temporary exhibit hall. Space Shuttle Endeavour is lifted into the site of the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center on Monday, Jan. The 20-story-tall display stands atop an 1,800-ton (1,633-metric ton) concrete slab supported by six so-called base isolators to protect Endeavour from earthquakes.Īll parts of the vertical launch configuration are authentic components of the shuttle system, including the rust-colored external tank, which was flight-qualified. "Everyone who sees it, even those who've seen the shuttle before, they say wow." "The scale of it is something that really amazes people," he said. Rudolph, president and CEO of the science center, who estimated it will take up to two years to finish the project. "This is a huge morning for us now," said Jeffrey N. The building will be completed around Endeavour before the display opens to the public. ![]() The new building will also house an events and exhibit center that will house large-scale rotating exhibitions.Īn opening date for the new $400 million center has not yet been determined.A massive crane delicately moved the orbiter, which is 122 feet (37 meters) long and has a 78-foot (24-meter) wingspan, into the partially built Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.Ĭrews then attached Endeavour, covered in a protective wrapping, to the tank in a process that lasted into the predawn hours Tuesday. The building will include three multi-level galleries, themed for air, space and shuttle. The shuttle launch display will be the centerpiece of the 200,000-square-foot Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. It hasn't been on public display since the end of 2023 due to the "Go For Stack" move. The shuttle, which has been on display for about a decade, has a wrapping around it in preparation for the move. Details about how that will happen were not immediately available, but Science Center officials said the move will likely happen in the coming weeks. Once the external fuel tank is moved into the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, Endeavour itself will be the only component that will need to be added. 9, 2023.Īft skirts, rocket motors and a forward assembly also will be part of the vertical shuttle display. Jonathan Gonzalez reports for the NBC4 News on Nov. The rocket motors stand at over 100-feet tall and are part of the Endeavour display going up at the new science center. The boosters were moved into place in early December. A crane will lift it into vertical position alongside two 149-foot tall standing solid rocket boosters. The tank will likely be in place late Thursday or early Friday. when a transporter, which is self-propelled, is set in motion for a two-hour journey past the the Science Center building and the Exposition Park Rose Garden to its home in the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which is under construction. This external tank is the only external tank left from the space shuttle program that was built for flight but not flown." "And that also is interesting from the fact of it's the only one in the world. "Not only weights and distances and lengths and diameters, but what you have to do to move it around to get past obstructions and whatnot," said Larry Clark, a retired space shuttle engineer. Get Southern California news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox.
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