The twins are both standing tall once more. Endeavour will rise anew to join them soon.
On Thursday, Nov. 9, both 116-foot-long Solid Rocket Motors of the Space Shuttle Endeavour were visible, secured in their final vertical positions at the California Science Center, the latest step in “Go for Stack” — a complex process of installing Endeavour’s 20-story vertical display — which will become the centerpiece of the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in Exposition Park.
The first of the two towering engines was hoisted up by crane on Tuesday and was joined by its mate on Wednesday.
The Thursday event was a chance for media to see the dramatic scale of the vertical display before the components are fully enclosed in scaffolding that will protect the components during construction. According to the California Science Center, those barriers will be built around the full shuttle stack to protect it from the weather and construction. The scaffolding will be covered with plywood and Kevlar fabric.
The $400,000 million, 200,000-square-foot Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will nearly double the California Science Center’s educational exhibit areas with an artifact collection of aircraft and spacecraft, hands-on exhibits to encourage people of all ages to learn about the “principles of atmospheric flight and the exploration of the universe,” the center explained in a statement.
The engines — which once propelled America’s famed space shuttles into orbit — chugged down the freeway last month, trekking from storage in the desert to their new upright home.
The giant motors — each 116 feet long, more than 12 feet in diameter and both 104,000 pounds — will ultimately become part of the only vertical, launch-ready configuration of a shuttle in the world. Science Center officials began the process of creating the display last July.
The new exhibit won’t be open until sometime after 2025. The public will have until the end of this year…
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