SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR HOURS SERIES

Once arrived at LAX, Endeavour will be removed from the SCA in much the same way as Discovery was upon arrival at Dulles International Airport this last spring, using cranes and a giant sling to safely remove the 170,000 pound vehicle from the 747. Once removed from the SCA and placed on the transport, Endeavour will take refuge inside a United Airlines hangar while final preparations for its transport and display are completed. Instead, NASA engineers will remove the 170,000 pound shuttle using cranes and a giant sling and place the orbiter on a NASA ground transport. KSC has a structure, known as the Mate-Demate Device, specifically designed for that purpose LAX does not. Upon arrival at LAX, Endeavour needs to be removed from the top of the SCA, a complicated feat in and of itself. The flight itself, however, is only the beginning of Endeavour’s journey to her new home at the California Science Center’s Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion. Photo Credit: Julian Leek / Blue Sawtooth Studios 6, shows the photographic insets that have been placed over the control panels of the glass cockpit.

SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR HOURS SERIES

Although details of the flight path over the Los Angeles area will not be released until days before the departure, it is expected that Endeavour will announce her arrival to Los Angeles with a series of dramatic fly-overs such as was seen when Discovery and Enterprise arrived at their new homes in Washington D.C. Those dates are flexible to allow for any delays due to unfavorable weather conditions along the flight path from Florida to Los Angeles. Piggybacking on top of a modified NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), the orbiter will take three days to make the cross-country flight, arriving at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on the afternoon of September 20. Referred to as Mission 26: The Big Endeavour, NASA’s youngest space shuttle will take to the skies one final time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 17. California Science Center President Jeffrey Rudolph, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Inglewood Mayor James Butts announced the details at a news conference held at the California Science Center (CSC) this past Wednesday. With just over a month before her final departure the California Science Center in Los Angeles has released details concerning the final journey for NASA’s youngest orbiter. Space shuttle Endeavour’s days at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are numbered. Photo Credit: Mike Killian for ARES Institute and AmericaSpace Space Shuttle Endeavour atop launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, 24 hours before her final launch on STS-134.

Space shuttle endeavour hours