LOS ANGELES (AP) — Space shuttle Endeavour rocketed beyond …
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After victory lap, Endeavor rolls to retirement
In this photo provided by NASA, space shuttle Endeavour
and its modified 747 carrier aircraft soar over the Hollywood sign in
Los Angeles during its tour of California, Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP
Photo/NASA, Jim Ross)
By ALICIA CHANG
AP Science Writer
/
September 23, 2012
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Space shuttle Endeavour rocketed beyond Earth
orbit 25 times. Its 26th mission: A 12-mile commute through the streets
of Los Angeles to its new retirement home in a museum.
With Endeavour permanently on the ground after a majestic aerial spin
Friday around California, crews over the weekend will begin unbolting
the shuttle from the 747 jumbo jet and putting it on a special flatbed
trailer, a process that will take a few weeks.
The road trip in early October to the California Science Center has
been billed as a parade, but some residents along the route have
objected to the cutting down of some 400 trees to make room for the
five-story-high shuttle with a 78-foot wingspan.
A crowd recently packed a public meeting where concerns were raised
about the loss of shade and greenery in their neighborhoods. Museum
officials have pledged to replant at least double the number of lost
trees.
But Friday brought nothing but good feelings as the shuttle became California’s biggest star, the people its paparazzi.
From the state Capitol to the Golden Gate Bridge to the Hollywood
sign, massive crowds of spectators pointed their cellphones and cameras
skyward as the shuttle, riding piggyback atop a 747 jumbo jet, buzzed
past.
Peggy Burke was among the hordes of camera-toting tourists who jammed
the waterfront along the San Francisco Bay, reflecting on the end of an
era.
‘‘It’s just a shame that the program has to end, but I'm so glad they
came to the Bay area especially over the Golden Gate Bridge,’’ she
said. ‘‘Onward to Mars.’’
At the Hollywood & Highland Center, a shopping complex with a view of the Hollywood sign, revelers yelled and screamed.
‘‘It was like being in Times Square for the millennium,’’ said Blue
Fier, a college photography professor. ‘‘This is right up there. It was
pretty cool.’’
Known as the baby shuttle, Endeavour replaced Challenger, which
exploded during liftoff in 1986. Endeavour rolled off the assembly line
in the Mojave Desert in 1991 and a year later, rocketed to space. It
left Earth 25 times, logging 123 million miles.
Friday’s high-flying tour was a homecoming of sorts.
After a nearly five-hour loop that took Endeavour over some of the
state’s most treasured landmarks, it turned for its final approach,
coasting down the runway on the south side of the Los Angeles
International Airport, where elected officials and VIPs gathered for an
arrival ceremony.
As the jumbo jet taxied to the hangar, an American flag popped out of
the jet’s hatch. Endeavour will stay at the airport for several weeks
as crew prepare it for its 12-mile trek through city streets to the
California Science Center, its new permanent home, where it will go on
display Oct. 30.
NASA retired the shuttle fleet last year to focus on destinations
beyond low-Earth orbit. Before Endeavour was grounded for good,
Californians were treated to an aerial farewell.
Endeavour took off from Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave desert
Friday after an emotional cross-country ferry flight that made a special
flyover of Tucson, Ariz., to honor its last commander, Mark Kelly, and
his wife, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
It circled the high desert that gave birth to the shuttle fleet
before veering to Northern California. After looping twice around the
state Capitol, it swung over to the San Francisco Bay area and Silicon
Valley and then headed down the coast, entering the Los Angeles air
space over the Santa Monica Pier. En route to LAX, it passed over a slew
of tourist sites including Dodger Stadium, Disneyland and the Queen
Mary.
The cost for shipping and handling Endeavour was estimated at $28
million, to be paid for by the science center. NASA officials have said
there was no extra charge to fly over Tucson because it was on the way.
Endeavor’s carefully choreographed victory lap was by far the most
elaborate of the surviving shuttle fleet. Discovery is home at the
Smithsonian Institution’s hangar in Virginia after flying over the White
House and National Mall. Atlantis will remain in Florida, where it will
be towed a short distance to the Kennedy Space Center’s visitor center
in the fall.
Derek Reynolds, a patent attorney from a Sacramento suburb who saw
the last shuttle launch last year, felt the flyover in Sacramento was a
rare opportunity to share a firsthand experience of the space program
with his 5-year-old son, Jack, who he pulled out of kindergarten for the
day.
‘‘I want him to experience it and give him the memory since it’s the last one,’’ Reynolds said.
As Endeavour approached LAX, other airplanes were forced to circle
and wait. Passengers on an American Airlines flight from Miami snapped
pictures and shot video out their windows as the shuttle arrived.
‘‘This was a once-in-a-lifetime event,’’ said pilot Doug Causey, who
has been flying for 29 years. ‘‘That was a real treat to see something
like that.’’
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press staff members Tom
Verdin and Juliet Williams in Sacramento; Terry Chea and Marcio Sanchez
in San Francisco; John Antczak in Pasadena; Jae Hong in Santa Monica;
and Greg Risling, Martha Mendoza, Raquel Maria Dillon, Richard Vogel and
Chris Carlson in Los Angeles.
___
Alicia Chang can be followed at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia
end quote from:
After victory lap, Endeavor rolls to retirement
A friend of mine called me from a good location to see it in Northern California as it flew by at 1500 feet altitude, he was at this location with his mother who is now 90 years old. It seems his father was a rocket engineer and one of the designers of the Space Shuttle and it meant a whole lot to the both of them as his father had passed away this year.
end quote from:
After victory lap, Endeavor rolls to retirement
A friend of mine called me from a good location to see it in Northern California as it flew by at 1500 feet altitude, he was at this location with his mother who is now 90 years old. It seems his father was a rocket engineer and one of the designers of the Space Shuttle and it meant a whole lot to the both of them as his father had passed away this year.
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