After 25 flights, Space Shuttle Endeavour is set to complete its next mission of education. On June 25, the California Science Center unveiled the shuttle in its final display configuration, poised vertically for “launch” with an attached external tank (ET) and twin solid rocket boosters (SRBs). While the exhibit is not set to open until Nov. 13, the museum gave an early preview to members of the media.
OV-105, better known by the name Endeavour, first flew in May 1992 on STS-25. During its career, the orbiter would capture a stranded satellite, be the first vehicle to repair the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit, and complete multiple missions to the International Space Station (ISS), installing important modules, including the iconic cupola.
Following the announcement that the Space Shuttle program would end, Endeavour flew its final mission in May 2011 on STS-134. Part of the Space Shuttle retirements included the ability for museums to petition to receive one of the four orbiters. The California Science Center won Endeavour, which saw the vehicle fly into Los Angeles in 2012 and weave its way through the streets towards its final home.
However, that home was only somewhat final. The museum had plans from the very beginning to display Endeavour vertically, something none of the other exhibits would do.
Endeavour heads through the streets of LA on its way to the California Science Center. (Credit: Sam Sun for NSF)
“We just sort of said, you know, they’re going to retire the Space Shuttle someday, we should try to get one, and if we do, we should put it in a launch position,” California Science Center President and CEO Jeff Rudolph said. “We didn’t really know what we were getting into, or we might not have tried, but it’s so good that we did.”
The orbiter is part of the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which includes parts of a Boeing 747, a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, and more. The Shuttle was attached to an ET and two SRBs, both of which have flight heritage, in Jan. 2024. Following the mating of the orbiter to the ET and SRBs, the building’s structure was built around the stack.
The exhibit begins with an immersive video produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot studio and concludes with the reveal of the full stack.
ET-94, the orange tank, was rated for flight. However, following the Columbia disaster in 2003, the tank, which had many similarities to the ET used on STS-107, was pulled from the flight line. Following STS-107, NASA teams used this tank for testing and to improve the design and safety of future tanks.
According to Perry Roth-Johnson, the curator of science and technology at the California Science Center, NASA considered using it as part of the Artemis program, but once NASA decided it no longer wanted it, the museum swooped in.
A view up the Endeavour exhibit at the California Science Center showing a mating point of the orbiter and external tank. (Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)
“We did have to install about a third of the surface area of the foam with new stuff, but it was all modeled after the existing foam and carefully hand-carved to match the existing texture,” Roth-Johnson said.
For Shuttle fans who appreciate the Spray-On Foam Insulation (SOFI) that gives the tank its distinctive orange color, this exhibit is unfortunately not entirely covered in the real material, although the museum claims the material used is very close to it. However, Roth-Johnson admits they had to make one change that would never happen with an actual ET.
“We needed to make it presentable, [so] we painted it orange,” he admitted. “In real life, the foam would just rust outside and turn that orange color, but to kind of stabilize and make it uniform, we put a lot of orange paint on top of it.”
The SRB segments are also flown, having been assembled from multiple casings that flew a variety of Shuttle missions over the program’s 30-year history.
Guests can walk a full 360 degrees around the stack and underneath it. When the exhibit opens, there will also be an elevator that ascends a launch gantry similar to those at Launch Complexes 39A and 39B in Florida, where Endeavour launched. Once there, guests will be able to see into the actual flight deck and look down from a glass-bottomed platform. That view is something two-time Shuttle astronaut John “Danny” Olivas is excited for visitors to experience.
Endeavour, displayed at the California Science Center, as seen from the floor of the exhibit. (Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)
“When you see that big reveal, Endeavour sitting in the background there, it’s pretty impressive, and that’s what we got to see as we walked up to [the Shuttles] before our launches,” Olivas explained while standing in front of the open payload bay door. “With the payload bay door open, you get an opportunity to see all the nuts and the bolts and the wires and all those little bitty details.”
The interior of the payload bay is modeled after STS-118, Endeavour’s first flight following the Columbia disaster, which carried the first educator in space since the 1986 Challenger disaster, teacher and NASA astronaut Barbara Morgan.
“That sort of aligned with our mission as an educational institution,” Roth-Johnson said. “You can see the pressurized SPACEHAB module, which is connected with a tunnel up to the crew compartment and [it] also has the docking module above it that would have connected to the International Space Station when the Shuttle docked, and that’s basically how it flew on STS-118.”
A view inside the payload bay of Endeavour at the new exhibit in California. (Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)
However, not all items are space-flown. The Canadarm robotic arm, as well as the Orbiter Boom Sensor System attachment, were both returned to Canada, meaning those inside the payload bay are replicas. The docking adapter is also a replica; the actual hardware from Endeavour is on display as its own exhibit inside the pavilion. The engines have also been modified following the Shuttle’s retirement.
While Olivas did not fly on Endeavour, he was still able to share some fun quirks about the orbiter that visitors can look for.
One thing he pointed out was a material along the side of the payload bay door known as “monkey fur.” It’s conveniently located just below the yellow handles astronauts would use to maneuver around the payload bay while spacewalking.
“You wanted to stay away from the monkey fur because that material would transfer to your gloves, and next thing you know, everything you touch …gets that grease all over the place, and so, stay away from the monkey fur,” Olivas said with a smile. “The way that they have it displayed here is really impressive because it’s all those little details that made the Space Shuttle program the success that it was, and so you can look at any one part, piece, or component.”
People might also notice that there are still yellow brackets on the payload bay doors known as torque tubes.
“Here on Earth, a 1G environment, gravity would make those payload bay doors taco,” Roth-Johnson said, referring to the doors potentially becoming disfigured from the stress. “To stiffen them up, we had to put the torque tubes on, but that’s how it would have been out on the pad.”
One other stress they had while preparing to stack Endeavour was California’s frequent earthquakes. On the launch pad, the Space Shuttle was held down by eight hold-down bolts attached to pre-stressed studs. At launch, the frangible nuts would split in half under an explosive charge, releasing the Shuttle as the SRBs ignited. Those were approximately 0.75 m long.
A view of Endeavour’s wing and payload bay door with tension tubes attached. (Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)
“I believe ours are 10 ft. (three meters) long because we have a giant concrete pad with seismic isolators underneath,” Roth-Johnson explained. “It sounds kind of crazy, but the easiest thing to do is just go all the way through it and put a nut on the bottom and on the top.”
It is still pre-tensioned to the same specifications as the ones used on actual Shuttle missions.
As for the vibrations, it turns out that having a vehicle capable of withstanding heavy shaking during launch is already well-suited to earthquakes.
“The building structural engineer determined that if we can withstand flight loads, we can withstand seismic loads,” Roth-Johnson said. “So, the building engineer came up with a bunch of seismic load cases for all of the main attach points between the orbiter and the tank and the boosters. We basically built real flight hardware with Inconel bolts that were the same spec as flight bolts so that we could withstand those earthquakes.”
A hold-down stud and bolt, one of eight keeping Endeavour vertical. (Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)
When asked about the role this exhibit might play in helping younger generations remember the Shuttle program, the CEO said he believes it serves as a connection to the future.
“I think with the Artemis missions, people are interested again in human spaceflight,” Rudolph said. “We’ve made a point of telling people and showing people how a lot of the elements of the Space Launch System used in Artemis are on [the Shuttle] too. We’re showing people that we’re not done with space travel. This was an important milestone and helped us learn to live and work in space, but we’re continuing to do more.”
While the California Science Center is free, guests will need to reserve a time slot to visit the Shuttle exhibit once it opens in November. Members of the museum will get first dibs at available times before they are offered to the general public.
(Lead image: Space Shuttle Endeavour stacked vertically at the California Science Center during a media preview event. Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)
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