posted 11-22-2017 05:54 PM               

Two booster forward skirts were delivered today [Nov. 21]! They provide the critical connection between the solid rocket boosters and the external tank.

These will be stored by ET-94 until we are ready to assemble all of Endeavour's components for the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center!

posted 06-08-2018 12:01 PM               

Our external tank at needs a good wash, so we are up in a boom lift giving it some TLC.

The pressure wash works like a charm... before (left) and after (right).

Got the aft dome of the external tank cleaned up, and we'll keep working our way towards the nose over the next few days.

posted 06-24-2018 11:31 AM               

Starting to paint our external tank, ET-94!

posted 09-11-2020 11:00 AM               

Shuttle-used rockets roll into California to stand up Endeavour exhibit

Two rocket boosters made from parts that launched on more than 80 space shuttle missions are now parked outside of Los Angeles, having moved a step closer to standing up the display of a retired NASA orbiter.

The twin solid rocket motors, which Northrop Grumman pledged to donate for the California Science Center's exhibit of the space shuttle Endeavour in 2017, were delivered over the past couple of weeks to the Mojave Air and Space Port, where they are being temporarily held in outdoor storage. The inert motor cases, which Northrop Grumman described as being "structurally representative" of the solid rocket boosters used during NASA's space shuttle program, were trucked in from the company's Promontory, Utah test facility after being prepared for their exhibit.

posted 05-18-2022 11:30 AM               

Groundbreaking set for launchpad-like display of retired space shuttle Endeavour

More than a decade after it was grounded, NASA's retired space shuttle Endeavour is soon to be the focus of a groundbreaking.

The California Science Center in Los Angeles is set to begin of construction the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, a new museum that will display Endeavour vertically, as if poised for another launch, complete with a fuel tank and two side-mounted boosters.

posted 06-01-2022 08:00 AM               

Groundbreaking sets stage for space shuttle Endeavour launch-like display

It is an up-close sight that gave astronauts a reason to pause and soon it will be one that the public can see for themselves: a space shuttle standing poised for launch.

The California Science Center on Wednesday (June 1) is breaking ground for its new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which will become the permanent home of NASA's retired space shuttle Endeavour. Unlike the science center's current display of the orbiter, which for the past 10 years has had Endeavour positioned horizontally atop its mobile transporter, the new exhibit will showcase the full space shuttle stack — including an external tank and twin solid rocket boosters — in a gallery towering 20 stories tall at Exposition Park in Los Angeles.

posted 06-01-2022 04:03 PM               

Endeavour astronauts Garrett Reisman, Greg Chamitoff and Barbara Morgan were there, as well as the mayor of Los Angeles. The folks in the third photo besides the astronauts are Jeffrey Rudolph, the CEO of the California Science Center, and Ms. Lynda Oschin, the widow of Samuel Oschin.

posted 10-03-2022 10:01 AM               

• External Tank Hardware Specialist

  As the External Tank Hardware Specialist, you will literally help assemble parts of external tank ET-94 for the vertical display of Space Shuttle Endeavour in the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. You will work hands-on with historic space hardware, planning and developing techniques to install hardware that matches the original configuration of ET-94 in a fully authentic shuttle stack. This position is project-based and expected to end when all hardware work on the shuttle stack is complete in late 2023.

• External Tank Sculpting Assistant

  As the External Tank Sculpting Assistant, you will literally help assemble parts of external tank ET-94 for the vertical display of Space Shuttle Endeavour in the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. You will work hands-on with historic space hardware, sculpting and installing foam that matches the original configuration of ET-94 in a fully authentic shuttle stack. The position is project-based and funded through late 2023 (when foam work on the shuttle stack is expected to be largely complete), with the potential for extension pending additional funding and/or assignment to other projects.

• Air & Space Exhibit Project Manager

  As the Air & Space Exhibit Project Manager, you will plan and execute the development, fabrication, and installation of new aerospace exhibits in the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center to support the Science Center's mission to stimulate curiosity and inspire science learning in everyone. You will work day-to-day with a team of internal and external stakeholders, including exhibit developers, designers, aerospace content experts, fabricators, and technical consultants. On this team, you will be involved in all aspects of exhibit development and design, including task management, scheduling, contracts, and project documentation. This is a mission-critical position that will directly support the success of the Air and Space Center project and its financial, schedule, and guest experience objectives. This position is funded for at least four years, with the potential for extension pending additional funding and/or assignment to other projects.

posted 01-20-2023 02:55 PM               

You're watching our solid rocket booster aft skirts get delivered!

Measuring 18.5 feet in diameter and weighing 13,000 lbs. each, these aft skirts will be the foundation for our space shuttle in launch position. Our future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will be the only place in the world to see a complete space shuttle with a flown orbiter — space shuttle Endeavour — mated to real solid rocket boosters and ET-94, the last remaining flight-qualified external tank.

posted 02-22-2023 10:00 AM               

California Science Center reopens retired space shuttle Endeavour's payload bay

Space shuttle Endeavour is about to get its 'boom' back.

No, the California Science Center is not planning to reignite the retired spacecraft, which since 2012 has been on display at the Los Angeles institution. Despite the work now underway to exhibit Endeavour in a vertical, launchpad-like display, the center's plans call for the space shuttle to remain quiet.

Rather, the orbiter's payload bay has been reopened for the first time in nine years to complete outfitting the vehicle's cargo hold.

posted 04-13-2023 07:31 PM               

We're sharing another behind-the-scenes look at our team's work on our Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs)!

Our team is steadily working to prepare the SRBs for display in the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center — now under construction.

posted 07-06-2023 04:00 AM               

'Go for stack': CA Science Center to begin taking space shuttle Endeavour vertical for launchpad-like display

It has taken more than a decade of planning, engineering studies and fundraising, but finally, the space shuttle Endeavour is ready to go vertical.

The California Science Center, which since 2012 has exhibited the retired NASA orbiter in the horizontal, has set the date for the spacecraft's new launchpad-like display to begin being installed in the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center (which is also still under construction). On July 20 — the same day as the 54th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing, the base pieces for Endeavour's twin solid rocket boosters, the aft skirts, will be hoisted by crane into place.

posted 07-20-2023 12:00 AM               

As CA space shuttle display goes vertical, here is how Endeavour is being protected from earthquakes

Even before it opened more than a decade ago, the exhibit of NASA's retired space shuttle Endeavour in Los Angeles has elicited one question perhaps more than any other — can it survive an earthquake?

And to think, that was while the winged orbiter was displayed near the ground in its horizontal, landing configuration.

Now, as the California Science Center takes the first steps to stack the vehicle with a pair of twin solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank for a vertical, launchpad-like permanent exhibit inside the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, the question has only increased in magnitude.

posted 07-20-2023 05:15 PM               

'Go For Stack': First parts of space shuttle Endeavour vertical display lifted into place at California Science Center

For the first time in 12 years, 3 months and 21 days, the stacking of a NASA space shuttle has begun again.

On Thursday (July 20), the aft skirts for two solid rocket boosters were moved into place. This time though, the preparations were not for a launch into Earth orbit and occurred far away from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Florida.

posted 08-04-2023 07:55 PM               

Go behind-the-scenes with our Space Shuttle Team!

Our team recently reinstalled the gaseous oxygen (GO2) vent valve assembly on the nose of ET-94. This assembly vented gaseous oxygen that boiled off as the cryogenic liquid oxygen (LO2, -297 degF) warmed while the space shuttle stack sat on the launch pad. The venting was necessary to maintain a tank pressure of about 34 psi. After installing the vent valve assembly, the team attached a carbon-fiber nose cap that provided an aerodynamic shape to the nose of the ET.

posted 09-05-2023 04:09 PM               

Go behind-the-scenes with our Space Shuttle Team!

Our team recently installed a section of the 17-inch diameter LO2 (liquid oxygen) feedline onto ET-94. Here, you can see our team carefully watching the feedline as the crane lowered it to make sure it aligned with its mounts.

posted 09-13-2023 03:18 PM               

Our solid rocket boosters are getting a BOOST!

Our Space Shuttle Team recently stacked the cone-shaped frustums on top of the cylinder-shaped forward skirts to make two "forward assemblies," which will form the top portion of the solid rocket boosters.

posted 10-05-2023 03:16 AM               

Public invited to watch solid rocket motors arrive for shuttle Endeavour exhibit in L.A.

The California Science Center is celebrating the anniversary of space shuttle Endeavour's iconic Los Angeles road trip with the delivery of two very large candles.

On Wednesday, Oct. 11, 11 years to the day after the NASA winged orbiter began the ground-based leg of its journey to go on display, two flight-worthy solid rocket motors (SRMs) will arrive at the science center to stand with Endeavour in a vertical, ready for launch configuration. The public is invited to watch as the pair of 116-foot-long (35-meter) motors are trucked their final way to Exposition Park.

posted 10-11-2023 01:38 PM               

Rocket booster parts arrive in L.A. to stand up space shuttle Endeavour exhibit

They may not be as iconic as Endeavour or as large as the orbiter's external tank, but the sight of twin rockets moving through the streets of Los Angeles was enough to once again draw a crowd to watch the space shuttle components being delivered to the site of their future display.

The last major parts needed to exhibit Endeavour in its vertical, ready-for-launch configuration, the two solid rocket motors (SRMs) completed a two-day, 100-mile (160-kilometer) trip from the Mojave Air and Space Port to the California Science Center on Wednesday (Oct. 11).

posted 11-07-2023 06:12 PM               

Rocket motor lifted for Endeavour exhibit as NASA preps same for Artemis II

The future museum display of NASA's retired space shuttle Endeavour took a giant step upwards on Tuesday (Nov. 7), as cranes lifted the first of two solid rocket motors into the vertical at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

The stacking procedure — standing the booster atop its previously placed aft skirt inside the construction site for the science center's new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center — was the first major lift in a three-part series that will result in the world's only vertical exhibit of an authentic space shuttle. Tuesday's lift of the solid rocket motor (SRM) was both reminiscent of something NASA has done more than 140 times before and, at the same time, a first in history.

posted 11-08-2023 05:45 PM               

Second rocket booster lifted into place for space shuttle Endeavour L.A. exhibit

For the second time in two days, the largest part of a space shuttle-era rocket booster has been taken vertical at the California Science Center as part of the future launchpad-like display of NASA's retired orbiter Endeavour.

On Wednesday (Nov. 8), the mated segments for the exhibit's starboard (or right side) solid rocket booster (SRB) were hoisted into place atop an aft skirt inside the work site for the science center's Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in Los Angeles. Two large cranes were used to rotate and then raise the 116-foot-long (35-meter), 104,000 pound (47,000 kilogram) solid rocket motor (SRM), such that it now stands opposite its twin, which was stacked on Tuesday.