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The shuttle had spent the night at Edwards Air Force base north of Los Angeles, the last leg after a two-day trip across the country from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.īefore reaching the West Coast, it flew over Tucson, Arizona to honor former lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a horrific shooting last year and whose astronaut husband Mark Kelly commanded Endeavour’s final mission.
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But it shows what America can do, we can be really proud,” he added, waving a Stars and Stripes flag as the shuttle banked over the Hollywood Hills.Ĭars were parked bumper-to-bumper up the winding roads leading up to the obbservatory, as Angelenos turned out en masse in several parts of the city to witness Endeavour’s final flight. “It’s so cool, and so sad,” said Todd Unger, 28, among thousands who camped out from the early hours at the Griffith Park Observatory, overlooking the city and the nearby iconic hilltop Tinsel Town sign. Riding piggyback on a specially fitted Boeing 747, the shuttle flew over San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge before heading south to take in the Hollywood sign and Disneyland, before landing at LA international airport (LAX). LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The US space shuttle Endeavour took its final flight Friday, making a spectacular series of flypasts over California before landing in Los Angeles, its retirement home near where it was built. Photo by Arnold de Leon, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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21, 2012 as the shuttle took its final flight over the San Francisco Bay Area, on its way to the California Space Center in Los Angeles. See for coverage of the delivery and display of NASA's space shuttles.Space Shuttle Endeavour over Moffett Federal Airfield. By 2017, the science center intends to mount Endeavour with a pair of rocket boosters and a replica external tank to recreate how the shuttle looked on the launch pad. The CSC plans to open the Oschin pavilion to public visitors on Oct. Mechanical issues with Endeavour's four transporters, as well as natural and utility obstacles along the route, slowed the " mother of all parades," resulting in the shuttle's delivery to the California Science Center being delayed a day. The journey was witnessed by millions of spectators, who lined the roads, stood on rooftops and peered out windows to see the shuttle roll by. On its way to the CSC, Endeavour was towed by a Toyota Tundra pickup truck as it crossed over the 405 freeway and was the inspiration for two public celebrations - including a dance number choreographed by "Fame" actress Debbie Allen.
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"This was not just a once in a lifetime event, this was a once event." "Nothing like this has ever been attempted before, and nothing like this will ever be attempted again," Los Angeles' mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. EDT 0900 GMT) on Friday and arrived inside the CSC's new Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Display Pavilion at about 9:45 p.m. 12) on "Mission 26," a three day, 12-mile (19-kilometer) road trip that took it over city streets from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to the California Science Center (CSC) for display.Įndeavour, riding atop a modified NASA overland transporter and powered by four computer-controlled vehicles, exited LAX at 2 a.m. Space shuttle Endeavour has completed its final journey.Įndeavour, which launched to space 25 times racking up more than 122 million miles (196 million kilometers), embarked Friday (Oct.