Space Shuttle Endeavour’s Vertical Lift Underway at California Science Center

A jaw-dropping maneuver is underway, Monday night at the California Science Center: Space Shuttle Endeavour is being lifted by a 450-foot crane into the site of the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in downtown Los Angeles, which will be the permanent home of the retired orbiter that stands five stories tall, has a wingspan of 78 feet and weighs 170,000 pounds.

With the weather cooperating, Endeavour—a white mass as it was covered for added protection—began to rise around 9:30pm PT,  lifted by the nose by the 450-foot crane (and with a second, smaller crane for added support). It will be moved over the partial structure of the new center and, slowly, into liftoff position where it will be attached to a 65,000-pound external fuel tank and a pair of solid rocket boosters, completing the future display.

Endeavour’s move was carefully planned with help from NASA engineers. The team had also considered at approach that would involve backing the orbiter into the facility and then lifting it to the vertical position, but the option that they chose was considered safer while given them more control, explains Kenneth Phillips, the California Science Center’s curator of aerospace science. He reports that the maneuver had to be executed when there was almost no wind, while at night “because once the sun comes up, you get the pressure difference in the atmosphere.” Participants in the project were joined by press and local residents who came out to watch, either from the ground or nearby rooftops.

The Space Shuttle came to California in 2012, mounted atop a Boeing 747 that landed at LAX before completing a 12-mile journey across the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center, where an estimated 18 million have already visited the orbiter while in a temporary display.

The groundbreaking for the 20-story Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center was in the spring of 2022, and the building is expected to be completed in mid-2025. The California Science Center Foundation is actively fundraising to complete the 200,000 square foot structure, having raised $360 million of its $400 million goal.

The California Science Center is located in Exposition Park, whose planned future residents include George Lucas’ Lucas Museum for Narrative Art.