The Space Shuttle Endeavour was in a temporary facility when we went to see it in January at the California Science Museum near USC, just south of downtown Los Angeles. It was exciting to see it, and, though it was crowded, we didn’t have to waste too much time getting in to see it. We had tickets with reservation times, but there are lots of exhibits to look at while the crowd moves through to the the shuttle. Those were somewhat interesting, though some of them were very tailored to kids.
Rather than lots of description here, I’ve put short captions of the pictures below, so click through and take a look.
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- Used shuttle tires! Part of the exhibit on the way to the main attraction.
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- Note the spelling of “Endeavour.” And the control jets.
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- Near the entrance to the hall, we stopped to pose in front of the Endeavour.
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- The photo of my wife is better lit than the one of me, because of the ability of the respective photographers.
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- One of the tiles looks broken, and many look a bit worn.
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- The view along the shuttle’s side.
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- The tiles are all individually numbered, and some have to be oddly shaped.
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- The bay door hinges are visible on the side of the shuttle.
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- A close up view of the skin above the thermal tiles near the start of the wing. Short people would have trouble taking that picture.
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- I like how they painted the flag in the direction it would go if it were “flying” while the shuttle moves.
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- It’s pretty amazing to walk under the Endeavour! It is mounted tall enough that even I could walk under it. I could have reached up and touched it, but didn’t because I didn’t want to be thrown out.
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- Tiles on the underside.
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- There doesn’t look like enough room for the landing gear can fit in there
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- That looks like an access port for servicing, perhaps.
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- A closer view of what I think must be a service access area.
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- The main engines and the very tall tail.
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- I don’t know if that’s a hinge on the tail below the main engines, but it sure looks like it could be articulated.
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- The nose without any annoying people in front of it.
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- It’s hard to get the whole thing in the frame without a wide angle lens and in the small space. This is the best I could do.
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- The windows are surrounded by thermal tiles, too.
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- Endeavour looks spectacular from the nose!
