![]() Retired shuttles Atlantis and Discovery and the test ship Enterprise, which did not go to space, are on display across the country.Ītlantis is at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where it is displayed as if in orbit with its payload doors open and robotic arm extended. Columbia broke apart during reentry on Feb. Shuttle Challenger was lost and its crew of seven died in a launch accident Jan. In all, NASA operated five shuttles in space. About $360 million of the $400 million cost has been raised. In addition to completing the building, about 100 other aircraft and spacecraft will be installed along with numerous interpretive exhibits, Rudolph said. The 116-foot-long (35.3-meter-long) rocket motors were trucked to Los Angeles from the Mojave Desert in October and installed the following month. In use, the boosters would be attached to the external tank to help the shuttle's main engines lift off. It began in July with precise installation of the bottom segments of the side boosters, known as aft skirts, for the first time outside of a NASA facility. The process of assembling the shuttle system in vertical configuration was dubbed "Go for Stack," an informal term for putting together rocket components for launch. A groundbreaking ceremony for the Air and Space Center was held in 2022 on the 11th anniversary of Endeavour's final return from space. The shuttle was initially displayed horizontally in a temporary exhibit hall. Space Shuttle Endeavour is lifted into the site of the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center on Monday, Jan. The 20-story-tall display stands atop an 1,800-ton (1,633-metric ton) concrete slab supported by six so-called base isolators to protect Endeavour from earthquakes.Īll parts of the vertical launch configuration are authentic components of the shuttle system, including the rust-colored external tank, which was flight-qualified. "Everyone who sees it, even those who've seen the shuttle before, they say wow." "The scale of it is something that really amazes people," he said. Rudolph, president and CEO of the science center, who estimated it will take up to two years to finish the project. "This is a huge morning for us now," said Jeffrey N. The building will be completed around Endeavour before the display opens to the public. A massive crane delicately moved the orbiter, which is 122 feet (37 meters) long and has a 78-foot (24-meter) wingspan, into the partially built Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.Ĭrews then attached Endeavour, covered in a protective wrapping, to the tank in a process that lasted into the predawn hours Tuesday. ![]()
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