Space Shuttle Endeavour's new LA home opens to the public at California Science Center

EXPOSITION PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The California Science Center opened its Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center to the public Friday, featuring space shuttle Endeavour displayed in a nearly 200-foot-tall launch configuration.

The morning grand opening program was followed by a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting and public opening at the Science Center, 700 Exposition Park Drive.

Endeavour is displayed with authentic solid rocket boosters and an external tank, creating what the Science Center says is the only complete, authentic space shuttle system on view anywhere in the world.

The 200,000-square-foot expansion nearly doubles the Science Center's exhibit space and includes 100 aerospace artifacts and 100 hands-on exhibits focused on science and engineering.

The shuttle gallery rises nearly 200 feet and includes a 140-foot elevator ride up the launch stack to a glass-floor observation platform above the orbiter. Other exhibits let visitors try a shuttle landing simulator, sit inside a replica flight deck and descend a 45-foot slide designed to evoke the shuttle's return through Earth's atmosphere.

The center has three multilevel galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery.

The aviation gallery features more than a dozen aircraft, including gliders and fighter jets, as well as part of a Korean Air Boeing 747-400. Visitors can experience a five-minute simulated flight from Los Angeles to Seoul, the center said.

The space gallery includes flown spacecraft, including the Mercury-Redstone 2 capsule, Gemini 11 capsule and Apollo-Soyuz Command Module. It also features exhibits developed with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including models and replicas representing six decades of robotic exploration and hands- on activities such as programming a miniature Mars rover.

Free astronaut and aerospace talks will be held every half-hour during the grand opening weekend, Friday through Sunday, with the final talk scheduled for 4 p.m. Topics will include women in space, mission overviews and other aviation and space subjects, with presentations by astronauts and experts from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center.

"Endeavour's Long Journey," a photo exhibit documenting the shuttle's final flight over California, its 12-mile, 68-hour trip through Los Angeles and Inglewood, and its vertical installation at the Science Center, will also open Friday.

The exhibit will be on view in the Weingart Foundation Special Exhibits Gallery on the third floor. It is included with general admission, and timed reservations are not required.

General admission to the Science Center is free. Timed reservations are required for the new center because of anticipated demand, with a $4 service fee waived for Science Center members and in-person, same-day reservations. Entry may be limited or unavailable without advance reservations.

The Air and Space Center will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

City News Service contributed to this report.