![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() NASA will oversee activities through removal of Endeavour from the 747, but the museum takes over full responsibility for getting the orbiter from LAX to the science center.LOS ANGELES » The people became the paparazzi tpday, aiming their lenses not at the latest starlet, but toward the sky to catch a glimpse of an aging superstar headed for retirement. 12-13 parade-like procession through city streets from the airport to the California Science Center where the veteran of 25 spaceflights will be exhibited.ĬSC is paying the costs of the ferryflight. Once in LA, Endeavour will be demated from the aircraft and housed in a United Airlines hangar to stand by for the Oct. Details, however, continue to be worked out and officials have not yet unveiled those plans. Specific sites will be targeted for ceremonial flyovers during the west-bound flight of the ferry, as well as refueling stops and places for overnight stays. 17, arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 14 when the shuttle is towed from the VAB to the apron next to the space center's runway and gets hoisted atop the modified 747.ĭeparture of the carrier aircraft is planned for Sept. EDT.Įndeavour's upcoming schedule calls for ferryflight operations to commence Sept. ![]() The two spaceplanes will pose for a nose-to-nose photo op during Thursday morning's move at around 8:30 a.m. Atlantis will resume her museum preparations after taking the vacated hangar slot Thursday. Once Endeavour is finished with all that work, she will wait out the final weeks at the Florida spaceport by sitting on display to tourists in the northwest corner of the VAB. With only one OPF hangar still available for shuttle operations, the orbiters are forced to shuffle at different points in their retirement and decommissioning schedules. The vehicle will be rolled out of Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2 on Thursday to swap places with sister-shuttle Atlantis, which has been in temporary storage at the Vehicle Assembly Building since late June. 6 and the ship's crew module was closed Aug. The 60-foot-long payload doors were shut June 19, the three replica main engines were installed between July 11 and 13, the aerodynamic tailcone for the ferryflight was attached Aug. EDT, falling forever silent after two decades of flight. Just days away from leaving her hangar one final time, technicians at Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday were jacking down the leveling struts holding the space shuttle Endeavour, precisely weighing the ship and making center of gravity determinations for next month's ferryflight to Los Angeles.Įndeavour was powered off May 11 at 9:58 a.m. EDT on Monday, with low-altitude passes over the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and Space Coast beaches planned before heading to Houston for a two-day stop at Ellington Field before resuming the ferryflight Wednesday and eventually landing at the Los Angeles International Airport a little before 12 noon local time on Thursday. This roll will take a couple of hours to travel from the Vehicle Assembly Building storage bay to the Mate-Demate Device that will hoist the shuttle off the ground later today and enable the jumbojet to pull underneath.įinal anchoring of Endeavour onto the 747 should be finished on Saturday, then the duo will push out of the Mate-Demate Device structure on Sunday morning. The diesel-powered tug has has begun this morning's long-dreaded moment of moving shuttle Endeavour toward the Shuttle Landing Facility where the 747 carrier aircraft is waiting to ferry the orbiter to her final resting place at the California Science Center. ![]()
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