The public will soon be able to see a space shuttle standing poised for launch, thanks to an up- close sight that gave astronauts a reason to pause.
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center will become the permanent home of the retired space shuttle Endeavour. The new exhibit at the science center will feature the full space shuttle stack, including an external tank and twin, unlike the current display, which has had Endeavour positioned horizontally.
Jeffrey Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center, said in a statement that the center is thrilled to celebrate this milestone.
There are pictures of NASA's space shuttle program.
Local and state elected officials, former NASA astronauts, students and donors were invited to join the leaders of the science center for a private ceremony on Wednesday. The expansion of the science center was made possible by a donation from the new museum that is named after them.
The gift is to honor the legacy of my dear husband Samuel Oschin, who was passionate about adventure and the pursuit of knowledge, especially in the fields of science and engineering.
The California Science Center received a large gift from the Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Oschin Family Foundation. The science center has raised $280 million in order to cover the past, present and future of the display.
The California Science Center is grateful to Mrs. Oschin for the unparalleled gift and for her early contribution in bringing the space shuttle to the center.
Major donors include The Ahmanson Foundation, Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, Weingart Foundation and Ibrahim El-Hefni Technical Training Foundation. The science center plans to raise the remaining $120 million during the construction period and is still accepting members for Team Endeavour by sponsoring one of the shuttle's thermal tiles.
The governor of California thanked the generous supporters of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center project.
The footprint for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Museum was cleared before the ceremony on Wednesday.
The demolition of the old buildings is done, so the next step will be excavation and shoring to get the building going.
In the second half of the next century, the space shuttle will be taken off display and moved to the new air and space center. There it will be joined by External Tank-94, the last remaining shuttle fuel tank built for flight, and two solid rocket boosters that were used in the launch of 81 shuttle.
A team of former and current space program workers have been recruited by the California Science Center to mate the space shuttle with the SLS megarocket. The tried-and-true way was still the best way to lift the full shuttle stack, even though the prevailing thought was to mount it in the horizontal.
The youngest space shuttle by NASA.
Dennis Jenkins, a veteran shuttle engineer and director of the science center's project to display Endeavour, said that they did a lot of engineering on horizontal stack concepts because they thought it would be easier. We went back to the old fashioned way without the VAB.
The solid rocket boosters will be raised first, followed by the external tank and then the shuttle. The same hardware that was used for launches will be used to connect them.
It is a flight stack. We will use hold-down bolts to secure the boosters to the isolator, but everything from there on up will be the same as we would have done at NASA.
The museum building will be built around it once Endeavour is in place. Scaffolding that was used to access the shuttle's attach points will be used again to support a cover to protect the vehicle from damage.
Building construction will take about three years.
When it opens, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will have 150 exhibits that span three levels.
The museum will display flown Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsule, as well as an array of engineering models of planetary probes, and approximately 20 aircraft.
Guests will be able to view the shuttle from multiple angles inside the gallery. Visitors will be able to take an elevator up to glass-floor platforms to get a look inside the crew hatch, one of the two 60-foot-long doors will be open, and look down at the vehicle below.
They will be able to walk up to and under the shuttle in the same area where astronauts stood on the launch pad to watch their ride into space.
Greg Chamitoff said that there is a moment when everyone has left the launch pad except for the crew and a few others. It feels good.
I don't think they're going to have the sound effects, but I think standing there will bring it back.
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