Live Coverage: Crane Lifting Space Shuttle Endeavour into Museum Exhibit Position on Early Morning of January 30 (Video)”
The relocation of the space shuttle Endeavour to its museum exhibit destination is set to take place early Tuesday morning (Jan. 30), and you can witness the event unfold live. Utilizing a towering 450-foot-tall (137 meters) crane, Endeavour will be carefully positioned at the California Science Center, marking a massive and technically challenging process never before undertaken outside a NASA or Air Force facility.
Space Shuttle
The California Science Center will provide a live stream of the installation on Space.com or directly through the museum’s platform, commencing at 12:30 a.m. EST (0530 GMT). The duration of the lift remains uncertain.
The intricate process, known as “Go for Space Shuttle Stack,” concludes a six-month-long endeavor to arrange Endeavour, along with its two solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank, into their final vertical configuration, replicating their appearance on launch day. However, the public unveiling of the Endeavour exhibit is still pending.
The future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Shuttle Center, slated to be Endeavour’s permanent home, is a substantial expansion of the California Science Center. The ongoing construction phase is anticipated to span the next 18 months, followed by artifact and exhibit installation. An official opening date for the exhibit has yet to be announced.
Endeavour, NASA’s youngest shuttle, completed 25 missions before the retirement of the shuttle program in 2011. While the shuttle Discovery and Atlantis find their homes at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, respectively, Endeavour’s relocation signifies an exciting step in preserving and showcasing space exploration history.
