Endeavour Lands in California

The space shuttle Endeavour landed piggyback on top of a jumbo jet at Edwards AFB in Southern California after a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, its permanent home.

The retired spaceship landed safely in the Mojave Desert's Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County at the end of the space shuttle's coast-to-coast ferry by air from Cape Canaveral, Florida. 

Endeavour and its carrier jet flew to the Golden State, where the spacecraft was born two decades ago.  Endeavour made seven landings at Edwards Air Force Base during its tenure at NASA.

The retired space shuttle Endevour will now head for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), where the 170,000-pound spacecraft will spend two weeks being prepared for its move along the boulevards of Inglewood and Los Angeles to its new home at the California Science Center in downtown L.A.

On its way from Edwards AFB to LAX, Endeavour will be flown for one long, final, dramatic victory lap over San Francisco, Sacramento, Hollywood, Disneyland and the Los Angeles metropolitan area over millions of fans.

To prepare the way for the giant space shuttle's 12-mile street procession to its new home at the museum, 400 trees will be sacrificed along with hundreds of utility poles, traffic signals and street lights.

The California Science Center will plant 1,000 new trees to replace those cut down.

The world famous space shuttle Endeavour, a celebrity in the land of celebrities, will enjoy the ultimate hero's welcome in the most spectacular fashion through the City of Angels, billed as "The Mother Of All Parades" by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Visitors from around the planet will be in attendance on Saturday, October 13 for the spectacle of spectacles, which will even include a celebrity half-time show.  Only in L.A.!

The official kick-off ceremony will be held at 8:00 am on Saturday morning at Inglewood City Hall.

"The procession of the Endeavour to its new home at the California Science Center will allow our children to bear witness to history, up close and personally," declared Mayor James T. Butts of Inglewood. "We are proud that the City of Inglewood will be involved in this great event."

"Los Angeles is a world class city that deserves an out-of-this-world attraction like the Endeavour," proclaimed Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles. "We welcome the shuttle with open arms."

On the evening of October 13, the space shuttle Endeavor will enter the California Science Center's new Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion.

The Endeavour exhibit will open to the public on October 30 and will be fully completed as a permanent global attraction by 2017.

Endeavor Lands in California