November 1, 2017

Space Shuttle Endeavour

When most folk think of the space program, they think of Cape Kennedy or Houston, but Los Angeles was a major contributor to the US effort to get into space. From JPL in La Cañada Flintridge(it’s really not in Pasadena) to production and test facilities throughout the region, Southern California was(and is) vital to the success of the space program. Some of my earliest memories is being at home and hearing a loud rumble and feeling the ground shake and the windows rattle, an earthquake?; nope, it was the testing of the engines for the Apollo missions to the moon(this may be why I’ve often been called a “space case”). So when it came time to retire the Space Shuttle, it was natural that one should be housed here in Los Angeles.

Endeavour was the last shuttle built and was a replacement for Challenger that was lost on launch. It flew 25 times and was supposed to be the last shuttle fight until one more was authorized and Atlantis flew the final Shuttle Mission. Endeavour is housed in a temporary barn like building attached to the California Science Center in Exposition Park south of Downtown Los Angeles and right next to the LA Memorial Coliseum. It is currently displayed in it’s space flight and landing position, however the Science Center is raising funds to permanently house Endeavour on the other side of the Science Center in it’s upright position as though it is about to be launched.

I have linked to an album that contains most of these pictures previously, however I’ve redone the “development” of these photos, so they’re pretty different(I think better).