Amazing work is underway at the California Science Center on Monday night. The space shuttle Endeavor is being lifted by a 450-foot crane into the site of the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in downtown Los Angeles. It is home to a retired orbiter that is five stories tall, has a wingspan of 78 feet and weighs 170,000 pounds.
With the weather cooperating, Endeavour, a white mass covered for additional protection, began ascending around 9:30 PM Pacific Time and was nose-lifted by a 450-foot crane (and a second, smaller crane for additional support). It has been raised. It will slowly move over a partial structure of the new center and into a liftoff position where it will be attached to a 65,000-pound external fuel tank and a pair of solid rocket boosters, completing the future display.
Endeavor's movements were carefully planned with the help of NASA engineers. The team also considered the approach of backing the orbiter into the facility and then lifting it into a vertical position, but the option they chose was considered safer while giving them more control, explains Kenneth Phillips, a curator at the California Science Center. Aerospace Science. He said they had to operate when there was little wind, and at night, “because when the sun comes up you feel the difference in pressure in the atmosphere.” Project participants were joined by journalists and local residents who came out to watch from the ground or nearby rooftops.
The space shuttle arrived in California in 2012, landing aboard a Boeing 747 at LAX and completing a 12-mile journey across the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center. The California Science Center has already seen about 18 million orbiter visits. Temporary exhibition.
Construction of the 20-story Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center began in spring 2022, and the building is scheduled to be completed in mid-2025. The California Science Center Foundation is actively fundraising to complete the 200,000-square-foot structure, raising $360 million of its $400 million goal.
The California Science Center will be located in Exposition Park and will include George Lucas' Lucas Museum for Narrative Art.
Space shuttle effort.
Caroline Giardina