California Science Center in Los Angeles has started the complex process to display NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour in the vertical launch position.
The six-month process, dubbed ‘Go for Stack’, involves moving and lifting each component into place for Endeavour’s vertical display. Per a press release, this has never been done outside a NASA facility.
The first step was installing the bottom segments of the boosters, called aft skirts, into the science museum’s upcoming Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, currently under construction in Exposition Park.
The aft skirts, which flew on a combined 15 space shuttle missions dating back to 1982, were lifted by crane and placed onto an 1,800-tonne concrete slab supported by six seismic isolators. They will be secured by four hold-down studs.
“This momentous feat moves us one giant step closer to completing the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center: a major expansion of the California Science Center,” said Jeffrey Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center.
“It will be a launchpad for creativity and innovation that will inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers.”
The final step of the stacking process involves moving Endeavour across Exposition Park. The last day to see the space shuttle at the California Science Center is 31 December. It has been on view there for 11 years.
Aft skirts installed in new venue
Construction on the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is expected to take another two years, followed by the installation of artefacts and exhibits. The new venue will double the science centre’s exhibit space.
Elsewhere, Space Center Houston, the visitor centre of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, is expanding to include a new facility with simulated cosmic terrains of Mars and the moon.
“Space is expanding once again and a new space age is upon us,” said William T. Harris, president and CEO of Space Center Houston.
