Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' (

Orbiter Vehicle Designation The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable launch system, reusable orbital spaceflight, orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1981 ...

: OV-105) is a retired

orbiter A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, ...

from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...

and the fifth and final operational Shuttle built. It embarked on its first mission,

STS-49 STS-49 was NASA's maiden flight of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'', which launched on May 7, 1992. The primary goal of its nine-day mission was to retrieve an Intelsat VI satellite, Intelsat 603, which failed to leave Low Earth orbit two yea ...

, in May 1992 and its 25th and final mission,

STS-134 STS-134 (ISS assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier ...

, in May 2011. STS-134 was expected to be the final mission of the Space Shuttle program, but with the authorization of

STS-135 STS-135 ( ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter '' Atlantis'' and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 ...

by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

, ''Atlantis'' became the last shuttle to fly. The

approved the construction of ''Endeavour'' in 1987 to replace the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'', which was destroyed in 1986. NASA chose, on cost grounds, to build much of ''Endeavour'' from spare parts rather than refitting the Space Shuttle ''Enterprise'', and used structural spares built during the construction of ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

'' and ''Atlantis'' in its assembly. The space shuttle will soon be on display in the upcoming Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the

California Science Center The California Science Center (sometimes spelled California ScienCenter) is a state agency and science museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, next to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the University of Southern Cali ...

History

Following the loss of ''Challenger'' in 1986, NASA was authorized to begin the procurement process for a replacement orbiter. A major refit of the prototype orbiter ''Enterprise'' was looked at and rejected on cost grounds, with instead the cache of structural spares that were produced as part of the construction of ''Discovery'' and ''Atlantis'' earmarked for assembly into the new orbiter. Assembly was completed in July 1990, and the new orbiter was rolled out in April 1991. As part of the process, NASA ran a national competition for schools to name the new orbiter—the criteria included a requirement that it be named after an exploratory or research vessel, with a name "easily understood in the context of space"; entries included an essay about the name, the story behind it and why it was appropriate for a NASA shuttle, and the project that supported the name. Amongst the entries, ''Endeavour'' was suggested by one-third of the participating schools, with President George H.W. Bush eventually selecting it on the advice of the NASA Administrator, Richard Truly. The national winners were Senatobia Middle School in

Senatobia, Mississippi Senatobia is a city in and the county seat of Tate County, Mississippi, United States, and is the 16th largest municipality in the Memphis Metropolitan Area. The population was 8,165 at the 2010 census. Senatobia is home to Northwest Mississippi ...

, in the elementary division and Tallulah Falls School in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, in the upper school division. They were honored at several ceremonies in Washington, D.C., including a White House ceremony where President Bush presented awards to each school. ''Endeavour'' was delivered by

Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It was involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avioni ...

Space Transportation Systems Division in May 1991 and first launched a year later, in May 1992, on

. ''Endeavour'' cost $1.7 billion to build. The orbiter is named after the British HMS ''Endeavour'', the ship which took Captain

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

on his first voyage of discovery (1768–1771). This is why the name is spelled in the

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

manner, rather than the

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

("Endeavor"). This has caused confusion, including when NASA itself misspelled a sign on the launch pad in 2007. The Space Shuttle carried a piece of the original wood from Cook's ship inside the cockpit. The name also honored ''Endeavour'', the command module of

Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the Apollo program and the fourth Moon landing. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greate ...

, which was also named for Cook's ship. On May 30, 2020, Dragon 2 capsule C206 was named '' Endeavour'' during the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission by astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in honor of the shuttle, on which both astronauts took their first flights (

STS-127 STS-127 (Assembly of the International Space Station, ISS assembly flight 2J/A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the twenty-third flight of . The primary purpose of the STS-127 mission was to deliv ...

and

STS-123 STS-123 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. STS-123 was the 1J/A Assembly of the International Space Station, ISS assembly mission. The orig ...

respectively).

Service

On its first mission, it captured and redeployed the stranded ''

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly Intel-Sat, Intelsat) is a Luxembourgish-American multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, United States. Originally formed ...

VI'' communications satellite. The first African-American woman astronaut,

Mae Jemison Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first African-American woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavou ...

, was launched into space on the mission

STS-47 STS-47 was NASA's 50th Space Shuttle mission of the Space Shuttle program, program, as well as the second mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission mainly involved conducting experiments in life and mater ...

on September 12, 1992. ''Endeavour'' flew the first servicing mission

STS-61 STS-61 was NASA's first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission launched on December 2, 1993, from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The missi ...

for the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

in 1993. In 1997 it was withdrawn from service for eight months for a retrofit, including installation of a new airlock. In December 1998, it delivered the Unity Module to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. ''Endeavour''s last Orbiter Major Modification period began in December 2003 and ended on October 6, 2005. During this time, ''Endeavour'' received major hardware upgrades, including a new, multi-functional, electronic display system, often referred to as a

glass cockpit A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features an array of electronic (digital) flight instrument display device, displays, typically large liquid-crystal display, LCD screens, rather than traditional Analog device, analog dials and gauges ...

, and an advanced GPS receiver, along with safety upgrades recommended by the ''Columbia'' Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) for the shuttle's return to flight following the loss of ''Columbia'' during reentry on February 1, 2003. The

STS-118 STS-118 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by the orbiter ''Space Shuttle Endeavour, Endeavour''. STS-118 lifted off on August 8, 2007, from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39, launch pad 39A at Kennedy ...

mission, ''Endeavour''s first since the refit, included astronaut Barbara Morgan, formerly assigned to the Teacher in Space project, and later a member of the Astronaut Corps from 1998 to 2008, as part of the crew. Morgan was the backup for Christa McAuliffe who was on the ill-fated mission

STS-51-L STS-51-L was the disastrous 25th mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the final flight of Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. It was planned as the first Teacher in Space Project flight in addition to observing Halley's Comet for six day ...

in 1986.

Early milestones

Upgrades and features

As it was constructed later than its elder sisters, ''Endeavour'' was built with new hardware designed to improve and expand orbiter capabilities. Most of this equipment was later incorporated into the other three orbiters during out-of-service major inspection and modification programs. ''Endeavour''s upgrades include: * A diameter

drag chute A drogue parachute, also called drag chute, is a parachute designed for deployment from a rapidly moving object. It can be used for various purposes, such as to decrease speed, to provide control and stability, as a pilot parachute to deploy ...

that reduced the orbiter's landing roll-out distance (the runway length used for deceleration) from to . * The plumbing and electrical connections needed for Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) modifications to allow up to a 28-day mission (although a 28-day mission was never attempted; the record is 17 days, which was set by '' Columbia''). * Updated avionics systems that included advanced general purpose computers, improved

inertial measurement unit An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is an electronic device that measures and reports a body's specific force, angular rate, and sometimes the Orientation (geometry), orientation of the body, using a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, an ...

s and tactical air navigation systems, enhanced master events controllers and multiplexer-demultiplexers, a solid-state

star tracker A star tracker is an optical device that measures the positions of stars using photocells or a camera. As the positions of many stars have been measured by astronomers to a high degree of accuracy, a star tracker on a satellite or spacecraft may ...

and improved nose wheel steering mechanisms. * An improved version of the

Auxiliary Power Unit An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles. Aircraft APUs generally produce 115&n ...

s (APUs) that provided power to operate the Shuttle's hydraulic systems. Modifications resulting from a 2005–2006 refit of ''Endeavour'' included: * The '' Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System'' (SSPTS), which converted 8 kilowatts of DC power from the ISS main voltage of 120VDC to the orbiter bus voltage of 28VDC. This upgrade allowed ''Endeavour'' to remain on-orbit while docked at ISS for an additional 3- to 4-day duration. The corresponding power equipment was added to the ISS during the

STS-116 STS-116 (also known as ISS-12A) was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery, Space Shuttle '' Discovery''. ''Discovery'' lifted off on December 9, 2006 for her 33rd flight at 20:47:35 Easte ...

station assembly mission, and ''Endeavour'' flew with SSPTS capability during

Final flights

Platforms Around Endeavour In Orbiter Processing Facility-2

''Endeavour'' flew its final mission, STS-134, to the

(ISS) in May 2011. After the conclusion of STS-134, ''Endeavour'' was formally decommissioned. STS-134 was intended to launch in late 2010, but on July 1 NASA released a statement saying the ''Endeavour'' mission was rescheduled for February 27, 2011. "The target dates were adjusted because critical payload hardware for STS-133 will not be ready in time to support the previously planned 16 September launch," NASA said in a statement. With the ''Discovery'' launch moving to November, ''Endeavour'' mission "cannot fly as planned, so the next available launch window is in February 2011," NASA said, adding that the launch dates were subject to change. The launch was further postponed until April to avoid a scheduling conflict with a Russian supply vehicle heading for the International Space Station. STS-134 did not launch until May 16 at 08:56 EDT. ''Endeavour'' landed at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

at 06:34

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

on June 1, 2011, completing its final mission. It was the 25th night landing of a shuttle. Over its flight career, ''Endeavour'' flew and spent 299 days in space. During ''Endeavour's'' last mission, the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-20 departed from the ISS and paused at a distance of . Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli took a series of photographs and videos of the ISS with ''Endeavour'' docked. This was the second time a shuttle was photographed docked and the first time since 1996. Commander

Mark Kelly Mark Edward Kelly (born February 21, 1964) is an American politician, retired astronaut, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from Arizona, a seat he ha ...

was the last astronaut off ''Endeavour'' after the landing, and the crew stayed on the landing strip to sign autographs and pose for pictures. STS-134 was the penultimate Space Shuttle mission;

was added to the schedule in January 2011, and in July ''Atlantis'' flew for the final time.

Flights

‡ Longest shuttle mission for ''Endeavour''

Tribute and mission insignias

Flow Directors

The Flow Director was responsible for the overall preparation of the Shuttle for launch and processing it after landing, and remained permanently assigned to head the spacecraft's ground crew while the astronaut flight crews changed for every mission. Each Shuttle's Flow Director was supported by a Vehicle Manager for the same spacecraft. Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''s Flow Directors were: * 01/1991 – ?: John J. "Tip" Talone Jr. (previously Flow Director for ''

'') * 08/2000 – 05/2006: Tassos Abadiotakis * STS-126 --- Ken Tenbusch * Until 08/2012: Dana M. Hutcherson

Decommissioning

After more than twenty organizations submitted proposals for the display of an orbiter, on April 12, 2011, NASA announced that the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' would go to the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The Space Shuttle was mounted on the

Shuttle Carrier Aircraft The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) are two extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners that NASA used to transport Space Shuttle orbiters. One (N905NA) is a 747-100 model, while the other (N911NA) is a short-range 747-100SR. Both are now retired. ...

and departed from the

on September 19, 2012, heading to the

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles and its Greater Los Angeles, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of California. LAX is located in the Westchester, Los Angeles, Westcheste ...

, with some refueling stops in

Ellington Field Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base is a joint installation shared by various active component and reserve component military units, as well as aircraft flight operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the aegi ...

and

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

. After low level flyovers above NASA and civic landmarks across the country and in California, it was delivered to LAX on September 21. It was then hoisted off the aircraft and placed inside a United Airlines hangar to prepare for its transportation through the streets of Los Angeles. On October 11 at 11:30pm, ''Endeavour'' left the hangar on four self-propelled robotic transporters and the orbiter was slowly left the airport and was carefully transported through the streets of Los Angeles. The Space Shuttle's journey was meticulously measured and each move was carefully choreographed. In multiple locations, there were only inches of clearance for the shuttle's wide wings between telephone poles, apartment buildings and other structures. Many street light standards and traffic signals were temporarily removed as the shuttle passed through. It was necessary to remove over 400 street trees as well, some of which were fairly old, leading to concern. However, the removed trees were replaced two-for-one by the Science Center, using part of the $200 million funding for the move. The power had to be turned off and power carrying poles had to be removed temporarily as the orbiter crept along the streets. News crews lined the streets along the path with visible news personalities in the news trucks. Police escorts and other security personnel, among them including the

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

, LASD, CHP, and NASA officials, controlled the large crowds gathered, with support from the LAFD and LACoFD to treat heat exhaustion victims as ''Endeavour'' made its way through the city. ''Endeavour'' was sometimes parked for a few hours at certain places, such as Randy's Donuts, and The Forum where it was available for viewing. ''Endeavour'''s biggest part of the journey was crossing the Manchester Boulevard Bridge over Interstate 405. However, due to weight restrictions of the bridge, the shuttle was moved from the robotic transporters to a lighter non-powered dolly and was towed across the bridge by an unmodified

Toyota Tundra The Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck manufactured in the United States by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota since May 1999. The Tundra was the second full-size pickup to be built by a Japanese manufacturer (the first was the Toyota T100 ...

. Once it had completely crossed the bridge, the shuttle was then returned to the robotic transporters to continue its course.

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

used the footage of ''Endeavour'' crossing the bridge in a commercial for the 2013 Super Bowl, and the Tundra used to pull the shuttle was donated to the Science Center, where it became part of an exhibit on leverage. Having taken longer than expected, ''Endeavour'' reached the Science Center on October 14 at 7:30pm. Prior to its arrival, a building was constructed on the side of the museum to temporarily house the Space Shuttle. The Space Shuttle's entire journey through the streets of Los Angeles was often dubbed as ''Mission 26: The Big Endeavour'', a nod to its 25 space missions during its career.

California Science Center

On October 30, 2012, the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' was opened to the public. The shuttle was on display inside the temporary Samuel Oschin Pavilion, where guests offered to not only walk around Endeavour, but also under it, as the vehicle was displayed in the horizontal atop four friction-pendulum seismic isolators to protect it from earthquakes. The shuttle remained inside the temporary pavilion until December 31, 2023. A companion exhibit inside the Science Center features images and artifacts that related the Space Shuttle program to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where the orbiters were originally constructed. After its decommissioning, ''Endeavour''s Canadarm (formally the 'Shuttle Remote Manipulator System') was removed in order to be sent to the Canadian Space Agency's John H. Chapman Space Centre in

Longueuil Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie, Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the South Shore (Montreal), south shore o ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, a suburb of Montreal, where it was to be placed on display. In a Canadian poll on which science or aerospace museum should be selected to display the Canadarm, originally built by

SPAR Aerospace SPAR Aerospace was a Canadian aerospace company. It produced equipment for the Canadian Space Agency to be used in cooperation with NASA's Space Shuttle program, most notably the Canadarm, a remote manipulator system. The company went through a s ...

, the Canadian Space Agency's headquarters placed third to last with only 35 out of 638 votes. ''Endeavour''s Canadarm has since gone on permanent display at the

Canada Aviation and Space Museum The Canada Aviation and Space Museum () (formerly the Canada Aviation Museum (''Musée de l'aviation du Canada'') and National Aeronautical Collection (''Collection aéronautique nationale'')) is Canada's national aviation history museum. The m ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. In August 2015, NASA engineers removed a few of the tanks from ''Endeavour'' for reuse as storage containers for potable water on the International Space Station. On May 28, 2015, NASA donated the ET-94 external tank, the last mission-ready one in existence as all others were destroyed during launch. On April 12, 2016, the tank was transported by barge from the

Michoud Assembly Facility The Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) is an industrial complex for the manufacture and assembly line, structural assembly of aerospace vehicles and components. It is owned by NASA and located in Eastern New Orleans, New Orleans East, a section of N ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, across the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

, and was safely docked in Marina del Rey on May 15. The tank was delivered to the Science Center on May 21. It was displayed outside the Samuel Oschin Pavilion until 2023. On March 28, 2017, both

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

and NASA donated a pair of flight-proven solid rocket boosters for ''Endeavour'' exhibit. The rocket parts were delivered on September 11, 2020, and were temporarily stored in the

Mojave Air and Space Port The Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field is in Mojave, California, United States, at an elevation of . It is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, being certified as a s ...

in Mojave,

until construction began.

Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center

The ''Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center'', a new building that is under construction, will serve as ''Endeavour's'' new permanent home. The Space Shuttle will be in a 20-story-tall display mounted on with the ET-94 tank, and solid rocket boosters. Once finished, it will be the only Space Shuttle mounted vertically in launch position. Originally slated to open in 2015, construction on the new building started on June 1, 2022. Meanwhile, the ET-94 tank underwent some restoration after being used to analyze the foam on its sister tank, ET-93, which was a factor during the

STS-107 STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the 28th(twenty eigth) and final flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. The mission ended on the 1st of February 2003, with the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster which killed al ...

mission, which resulted in the

Columbia disaster On Saturday, February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disintegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. It was the second Space Shuttle mission to end in disaster, after the ...

. On July 20, 2023, the assembly of the stack began with the aft skirts (bottom segments of the rocket boosters) being precisely positioned on a concrete slab supported by six base isolators that will protect ''Endeavour'' from earthquakes. The motors for the rocket boosters, which were in storage at the

, were installed on October 11, 2023. The rocket boosters were fully assembled when the tops were added on December 5, 2023. On January 3, 2024, ''Endeavour'' was protected in a shrink wrap, likely to stay on until construction is complete. The ET-94 tank was then moved into its position in January 16 and was mounted to the rocket boosters. On January 30, the Space Shuttle was then moved into its position, thus completing the stack. Once all components are mounted into place, construction on the building will continue, as a complex diagrid structure will be built around it. Construction work on the building is scheduled to be completed in mid-2025. It will take several more years to install the artifacts and exhibits inside the building. An official grand opening is not yet announced.

Legacy

Following their May 30, 2020, launch on board the

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

Crew Dragon Demo-2 vehicle, the crew announced in orbit that they had named their spacecraft '' Endeavour''. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley said the name has a dual meaning: first, after the "incredible endeavor" put forth by SpaceX and NASA after the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet in 2011; and second, because both Hurley and Behnken each flew their first flight aboard the shuttle ''Endeavour'' (Behnken on

, Hurley on

) and wanted to name this new spacecraft after the one that took each of them into space. The shuttle appeared in the 2022 films '' Moonfall'' and '' Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe''.

Replica

A replica of a section of ''Endeavour'' is on exhibit outside the Discovery Cube Orange County, a science museum in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

References

External links

NASA—Shuttle Orbiter ''Endeavour'' (OV-105) homepage

California Science Center: Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' homepage
��final home in Exposition Park, Los Angeles
Stickrboo.com: ''Endeavour''''Endeavour'' during STS-126 mission
��MPLM visible in Payload Bay
Image of Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' docked to ISS during STS-127
��created using a telescope mounted camera by astrophotographer Ralf Vandebergh
Transition & Retirement Processing in OPF-2
— over, under, around and through ''Endeavour'' with high-resolution spherical panoramas

��Space Shuttle Flights and ISS Assembly Sequence
Endeavour's trek through L.A.
* {{Authority control Endeavour Historic American Engineering Record in Texas Individual aircraft Individual rockets Endeavour