posted 05-17-2016 03:44 PM            

Just me?

posted 05-18-2016 10:16 AM               

Space shuttle external tank completes sea voyage, arrives in Los Angeles

NASA's last existing external tank built to launch the space shuttle has made landfall in Los Angeles after a five-week ocean journey.

The massive orange-brown tank, which left New Orleans atop a barge April 12, arrived in Marina del Rey, California Wednesday morning (May 18). The space artifact's 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometer) sea voyage included transiting the Panama Canal to cross from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean.

"[The tank] has entered the breakwater of the marina!" the California Science Center stated on Twitter. "Can't believe this journey!!"

posted 05-20-2016 12:32 PM               

• Dan Bursch
  
• Drew Feustel
  
• Mike Fincke
  
• Ken Ham
  
• Kay Hire
  
• Sandy Magnus
  
• Danny Olivas
  
• Charlie Precourt
  
• Garrett Reisman
  
• Rick Searfoss
  
• Steve Swanson

posted 05-20-2016 06:26 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by James Brown:
Any idea if these will be available for sale like the Shuttle Xing signs were?

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posted 05-22-2016 04:09 AM               

Space shuttle external tank completes road trip to CA Science Center

The space shuttle Endeavour now has its external tank.

The massive orange-brown fuel tank, NASA's last remaining example of its type, built for flight but never used, arrived at the California Science Center on Saturday evening (May 21), completing a nearly one-day road trip through the streets of Los Angeles.

posted 05-23-2016 01:11 AM               

The external tank has arrived! What's next for L.A. space shuttle display

The day after its widely-celebrated road trip through Los Angeles, NASA's last remaining built-for-flight space shuttle external tank still needed to be moved a short distance before it could be considered at "home" at the California Science Center.

The massive tank, referred to as ET-94, completed the 19-hour move through the city's streets on Saturday (May 21), traveling the 16 miles (26 kilometers) from Marina del Rey to Exposition Park. It came to a stop on the lawn between the Science Center, Natural History Museum and the L.A. Coliseum at about 7 p.m. PDT (0200 GMT May 22), when the crew overseeing its move decided to call it a night.

"After everyone got a few hours sleep, the move continued this morning," wrote Dennis Jenkins, the Science Center's project director for its space shuttle Endeavour display, in an email sent on Sunday. "We now have ET-94 [parked] in its temporary storage location beside the pavilion housing Endeavour."

posted 06-03-2016 05:35 PM               

The VR shoot included interiors of Endeavour’s flight deck and the Spacehab module as well as NASA astronauts — including Dan Bursch, Drew Feustel, Michael Finke, Kenneth Ham, Kay Hire, Sandra Magnus and Steven Swanson — who simulated in orbit procedures as though Endeavour was in flight.

Additionally, they were interviewed with 4K 2D cameras about the Shuttle and reminisced about their experiences in space. The VR and 2D cameras were also used to film some of the fuel tank's move through the streets.

...the pro-bono shoot was part of a larger effort to document the arrival and impact of Endeavour, with continued involvement from a core team that includes VFX Academy Award winners Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning (Hugo), who are co-founders of the experiential design company Magnopus; Melissa Eccles, VR experience producer for Game of Thrones; and David Knight, California Science Center trustee and founder of tech startup Terbine.

posted 08-02-2016 07:33 AM               

You'll pass the area with the other spacecraft on your walk, on the right just after the escalator up. I did these first, then its a short walk back to the left and down to the shuttle building at the back of the museum (there are plenty of signs directing where to go).

Once entering the Endeavour building, there are many other flown shuttle artifacts and a video of the move through the streets of LA, which was just as interesting and a pleasant surprise. The gift shop is at the end of the exhibit next to the Endeavour.

Plan a couple of hours to just see all the spacecraft in the museum. It's hard to get great photos of the Mercury, Gemini and ASTP since they are mounted inside plexi. For Endeavour, bring a telephoto lens if you want any detailed photos of upper portions as it is mounted up overhead. You can walk most places underneath, minus where the large mounting braces are at the forward and aft ends.

I parked in the semi-underground structure right next to the museum and USC's Coliseum, which also has the Lockheed A-12 two-seat trainer aircraft mounted on a stick outside.

posted 08-07-2016 10:02 AM               

ET-94 is now (relatively) clean. All of the mold, mildew, salt, and dirt that had accumulated from its extended time outside at the Michoud Assembly Facility (New Orleans) and during the sea transit from MAF to Los Angeles have been gently removed. The tank is much happier!

We have received our first shipment of primer from PPG and the first shipment of foam from North Carolina Foam Industries (NCFI) and are about to embark on learning how to reapply foam to restore the tank. We greatly appreciate the support from PPG and NCFI.

We have also completed sorting the myriad of parts that came with the tank and have mostly identified where each goes and how many we are missing (not many, thankfully). Later this year we will start re-installing the pressurization lines and feed lines.

posted 09-01-2016 12:45 AM               

NASA reinstalls water tank reclaimed from space shuttle Endeavour

One year after its removal from the space shuttle Endeavour, a metal water tank has been returned by NASA to the California Science Center and reinstalled inside the retired orbiter.

The tank, which was used to collect waste water during Endeavour's missions in Earth orbit, was extracted from under the shuttle's crew cabin in August 2015, at the same time that four similar potable water tanks were also removed.

posted 11-23-2016 04:01 PM               

'Mission 26: ET Comes Home' Photographs by Gil Garcetti at the California Science Center

"Mission 26: ET Comes Home" features 30 photographs by Gil Garcetti, chronicling ET-94's historic transport from Louisiana, via the Panama Canal and Marina del Rey, to the California Science Center, where it is on display with other Endeavour space shuttle artifacts and exhibits. The exhibition opens on December 15, 2016 in the Science Center's "Endeavour Together" Gallery.

With an eye for both art and science, photographer Gil Garcetti documents the extraordinary journey of the last remaining external tank built for flight (ET-94) as a community celebration of this shared human experience and a tribute to a great engineering feat of transportation. While on display ET-94 is being refurbished, preparing it for the ultimate goal of assembling the world's only authentic space shuttle system in the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.

On April 12, 2016, ET-94 left NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana and traveled over 4,400 nautical miles on the barge Gulfmaster I, pulled by a tugboat called the Shannon Dann.

On its way to Los Angeles, ET-94 weathered a storm in the Cayman Islands, traversed the Panama Canal, and made its way up the Pacific Coast. While passing Baja California, the crew rescued four stranded sport fishermen. As with the move of space shuttle Endeavour four years earlier, large crowds came out to cheer ET-94 on as astronauts proudly escorted ET-94 from Marina del Rely to the California Science Center.

Gil Garcetti has been a photographer since about the age of 13. But it wasn't until he left his position as Los Angeles County District Attorney in 2000, that he made photography his profession. Since 2002 he has published seven books. The photographs from these books have been featured in exhibitions around the world including at the United Nations, UNESCO, and the National Building Museum in Washington D.C., in October, at LACMA and in various publications in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

His most recent book, "Japan: A Reverence For Beauty," focuses on the questions of why the Japanese people and culture are so unique in their reverence, respect, and need for beauty and what Westerners can learn from this ancient culture and people.

Garcetti was appointed UNESCO-IHE Cultural Ambassador in 2014 and speaks around the world about the issue of safe water in developing countries and especially how bringing safe water to rural villages in West Africa directly affect the lives of women and girls. Gil's work as producer includes the hit TNT television series "Major Crimes" and "The Closer."

He has been married to his wife Sukey for 53 years. His daughter, Dana, is a lawyer and acupuncturist. His son, Eric, is the Mayor of Los Angeles.

posted 12-12-2016 12:00 AM               

Shuttling space artifacts: booster parts bound for Endeavour exhibit

The pieces are coming together for the towering, launch-pad-like display of NASA's retired space shuttle Endeavour.

Three large parts from two solid rocket boosters are now on a cross country road trip in preparation for the planned 2019 exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

posted 12-20-2016 12:40 PM               

Former DA's photos capture space shuttle tank's journey to California

One and a half million people turned out four years ago to watch as space shuttle Endeavour slowly navigated the streets of Los Angeles to be delivered to the California Science Center for display.

Gil Garcetti was not among them.

"I've made few mistakes in my life that I really regret, but one of them was having the opportunity to be present and photograph when the Endeavour went through the streets of Los Angeles," said Garcetti, the former district attorney-turned-photographer, in an interview with collectSPACE. "I was 'too busy' working on another project and I regretted it the day after."

Fortunately for Garcetti, — and now, for the visitors to the California Science Center, who can see his photographs in the new exhibit, "Mission 26: ET Comes Home" — he had a second opportunity.

posted 01-10-2017 05:00 AM               

Space shuttle Endeavour exhibit gains two flight-worthy solid rocket boosters

The space shuttle Endeavour exhibit at the California Science Center is getting a "boost" in the form of two very large, flight-worthy additions.

Orbital ATK and NASA are donating a pair of solid rocket boosters for the Los Angeles museum's vertical display of the retired orbiter. The two boosters, together with NASA's last existing built-for-flight external tank, will be mounted to Endeavour in the Science Center's new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, creating the world's only fully-authentic exhibit of a space shuttle in its launch configuration.

posted 01-11-2017 01:58 PM               

The cases will be empty. There have been various analyses performed, and the consensus is that propellant does not affect the bending characteristics of the cases since the flexible spot is the joints. The propellant does not cover the field joints so it doesn't matter if its there or not.

Although the mass might be slightly beneficial in some scenarios, it also greatly complicates the design of the seismic isolator the stack sits on (much easier to design an isolator for a 500,000-pound object than for a 3,000,000-pound one). The mass of propellant, especially up high, would also tend to make the stack sway more.

posted 03-29-2017 12:00 AM               

Historic re-flown rockets donated to exhibit as SpaceX readies for first re-flight

A twin pair of the world's first reusable rockets have been donated for public display in California, including parts that lifted off on the first launch to use flight-proven booster components 35 years ago.

The California Science Center in Los Angeles will display two flight-worthy solid rocket boosters as part of its vertical exhibit of space shuttle Endeavour, planned to debut to the public in 2019. The solid rocket boosters (SRBs) are being donated to the Science Center by NASA and Orbital ATK, the contractor for the 149-foot-tall (45 meter) rockets.

posted 03-29-2017 10:17 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by btguest:
Or is each entity donating major components that essentially equal the SRB stack?

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As for the non-motor parts of the booster, we sourced a set of flight-worthy aft skirts and frustums from NASA surplus and a set of forward skirts that were used for tests for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) Program that are currently in Utah at Orbital ATK. Orbital ATK and NASA are providing most of the smaller parts, like booster separation motors, from surplus.