It has hauled satellites into orbit and was chosen for the critical Hubble servicing mission in 1993, which corrected the space telescope's faulty vision.Īnd being one of the lighter-and therefore more fuel efficient-space shuttles, Endeavour was often used to ferry the heaviest cargo into space. Named after a ship commanded by 18th-century English explorer James Cook (hence the shuttle name's British spelling) Endeavour was the fifth and final NASA space shuttle to be constructed-a replacement for Challenger following that orbiter's deadly accident in 1986.Įndeavour first launched in 1992 and was known for its versatility. (See ultrahigh-resolution, 360-degree space shuttle pictures.) Hubble's Optometrist PT, the orbiter will remain in a hangar while preparations are made for Endeavour's mid-October ground transfer to the CSC, via the streets of Inglewood and Los Angeles, where hundreds of trees have been controversially cut down for the shuttle parade. The shuttle's final final flight, on Friday, will include morning flyovers above California landmarks in the Sacramento and San Francisco Bay areas as well as Disneyland, Griffith Observatory, and other Southern California sites.Īfter touching down at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at around 11 a.m. ( Space shuttle Endeavour: 12 pictures to remember.) Endeavour's California RollĪt sunup on Thursday, the carrier craft will fly Endeavour to El Paso, Texas, for a quick refueling stop before flying low over the White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, New Mexico, and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California-both of which served as backup space shuttle landing sites. The first of the legs came to a close late Wednesday morning, when the shuttle landed in Houston at Ellington Field, near NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the space agency trains its astronauts for shuttle flights and space missions. ![]() It's not NASA, and it's not taxpayer money," Pearlman said, "and each of these legs cost a significant amount of money." "The California Science Center is paying for this ferry flight. In fact, Endeavour will pass over all the NASA spaceflight centers that have played significant roles in the shuttle program except for Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, which would have required an expensive northern detour. "Given that they were flying over the southern parts of the United States, where many NASA centers are located, this was an opportunity to be able to salute each of those centers that made a contribution to the shuttle program," Pearlman said. ![]() (See "Inside the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.")Įndeavour's farewell-tour itinerary is anything but arbitrary. "It's a farewell not just to Endeavour, but also to the shuttle carrier aircraft as well," said Robert Pearlman, editor of the space history and artifacts website. Endeavour will chase the sun west over the next three days as it heads toward its own sunset at the California Science Museum (CSC) in Los Angeles.įollowing a two-day weather delay, the liftoff from Kennedy Space Center marked the last time a space shuttle will fly over Florida and the final ferry flight of NASA's 30-year space shuttle program-and its unsung workhorse. Piggybacking atop a modified 747, NASA's retired space shuttle Endeavour soared into a cloudy Florida sky at dawn Wednesday- the start of its final journey.
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