Visitors who came to see space shuttle Endeavour in the Samuel Oschin Pavilion at the California Science Center (seen here at its 2012 opening) could walk under the orbiter. "I got an email just recently from an astronaut saying that he and his family had come to see Endeavour one last time before it went off exhibit," Jeffrey Rudolph, president and chief executive officer of the California Science Center, said in an interview with collectSPACE. Other visitors included a number of Endeavour's former crew members, who came to see their previous ride into space. And the space shuttle was taken out of retirement as part of the plot of Roland Emmerich's 2022 action movie "Moonfall." Luke Wilson appeared opposite Endeavour in the 2014 short film "Satellite Beach," directed by his brother Andrew Wilson. The pavilion even made into a couple of movies itself. Abrams and the Leonard Nimoy in attendance, as well as the the television series " Extant" with Halle Berry). In addition to families and school groups touring the pavilion, Endeavour became the backdrop for the annual Yuri's Night world space party and the centerpiece for a number of Hollywood premieres (including the 2013 Blu-ray and DVD release of " Star Trek Into Darkness" with director J.J. The science center did count every person who came to see Endeavour, but during the time that the pavilion has been open, nearly 20 million people came to the center and a majority saw the space shuttle as part of their visit. Related: NASA's Space shuttles - Where are they now? Though the work to stack Endeavour is expected to be completed in early 2024, the building and its exhibits will not be ready for public visitors for a few more years to come, during which there will be no public access to the space shuttle. The new 20-story-tall display will be the highlight inside the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which is under construction adjacent to the main science center building in L.A.'s Exposition Park. Now, the science center is preparing to take Endeavour vertical - standing it up with a pair of solid rocket boosters and an external tank like it was last seen on the launch pad. The 11-year exhibition, which was housed in the center's specially-built Samuel Oschin Pavilion, offered unmatched access to the spacecraft, as the public could not only walk around Endeavour, but also under it, as the vehicle was displayed in the horizontal atop raised mounts. The California Science Center in Los Angeles has exhibited OV-105, better known as the orbiter Endeavour, since Oct. This is the checkpoint at the entrance to the white room, which connects to the shuttle through its side hatch.With the end of 2023 comes the end of an endeavor - or rather Endeavour - as the retired NASA space shuttle goes off public view for the next few years. Larger image available for download.Įngine servoactuators from shuttle Atlantis.Įndeavour's waiting room. The base of the shuttle's vertical tail is visible at top. The silver material in the upper part of the image is where one of Endeavour's orbital maneuvering system pods would attach.Įndeavour's aft compartment from the rear, showing where each of the orbiter's three engines would go.Ī close-up of a main engine servoactuator, which controls the engine's gimbal to steer the shuttle during launch.Įndeavour's center engine position. Larger image available for download.Ī broader view of the shuttle's aft section. Cryogenic propellant from the shuttle's external fuel tank would enter through the orbiter's belly, then split here to go to each of the main engines. Inside Endeavour's aft compartment through an access panel. Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now See our Endeavour mission archive for previous STS-134 coverage. When Spaceflight Now collected these photos in early March, Endeavour was without its three main engines, yielding views inside the shuttle's aft compartment, where massive propellant lines, avionics, heavy-duty actuators, and other components reside.Įndeavour's two rear maneuvering rocket pods were also gone.Įngine nozzles and OMS pods will be added to the shuttle before it departs in September for the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where Endeavour will be put on public display. They give workers access to virtually every nook of the ship. Narrow corridors, steep ladders and extensive support equipment surround the shuttle inside the hangar. One of the three OPFs will be used by Boeing to assemble their CST-100 commercial crew capsule, if the vehicle is selected in a competition by NASA. When the orbiter fleet is gone from KSC, the shuttle hangars will be decommissioned and potentially handed over to commercial space firms or other NASA programs. PHOTOS: Inside Endeavour's engine compartment BY STEPHEN CLARKĮnclosed within a maze of work platforms, the shuttle Endeavour has spent most of its life inside one of three Orbiter Processing Facility bays at Kennedy Space Center.
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