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LOS ANGELES (AP) — NASA’s retired space shuttle Endeavor was carefully hoisted late Monday at a Los Angeles museum to be attached to a giant external fuel tank and its two solid rocket boosters, where it will be uniquely displayed as if it About to explode. ,
A giant crane began lifting the partially constructed orbiter, 122 feet (37 m) long and with a 78-foot (24-meter) wingspan. Samuel Ocean Air and Space Center But California Science Center at Exhibition Park.
The building around Endeavor will be completed before the display opens to the public.
The 20-story-tall display stands atop a 1,800-ton (1,633-metric-ton) concrete slab supported by six so-called base isolators to protect Endeavor from earthquakes.
All parts of the vertical launch configuration are authentic components of the shuttle system, including the rust-colored external tank, which was flight-worthy.
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Endeavor flew 25 missions between 1992 and 2011 during its tenure at NASA. shuttle program End.
The shuttle was flown to Los Angeles International Airport aboard a NASA Boeing 747 in 2012 and then created a spectacular sight as it traveled through the narrow streets of the city to Exposition Park. external tank Arrived by barge and made a similar journey throughout the city.
The shuttle was initially displayed horizontally in a temporary exhibition hall. A groundbreaking ceremony The Air and Space Center was scheduled to mark the 11th anniversary of Endeavour’s final return from space in 2022.
The process of assembling the shuttle system in the vertical configuration was dubbed “go for stack”, an informal term for putting rocket components together for launch.
It began in July with the precise installation of the side booster’s lower sections, known as the aft skirts, for the first time outside a NASA facility. In use, boosters will be attached to external tanks to help lift off the shuttle’s main engines.
In total, NASA operated five shuttles in space. shuttle contender and its crew were lost in a launch accident on January 28, 1986. Colombia and its crew were lost during return from orbit on 1 February 2003. The retired shuttles Atlantis and Discovery and the test ship Enterprise, which did not go to space, are on display across the country.
Atlantis is at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where it is displayed with its payload doors open and robotic arm extended. The discovery was made by Steven F. Kennedy of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly. Udvar-Hazy rests on its landing gear in the center. Virginia,
Enterprise, which was launched from a carrier aircraft for approach and landing tests, is on display at the Intrepid Museum New York,
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