Topic: California Science Center: shuttle Endeavour
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-16-2016 11:59 AM
Courtesy the Shannon Dann, photo and video of the rescue of the Maximus crew:
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-16-2016 12:02 PM
Courtesy the Dennis Jenkins and the California Science Center, photos of ET-94 in San Diego:
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-17-2016 02:44 PM
Courtesy the Dennis Jenkins and the California Science Center, photos of ET-94 leaving San Diego for Marina del Rey:
DeepSea Member
Posts: 69 From: Registered: Jun 2014
posted 05-17-2016 03:44 PM
Anyone else sometimes wonder in sheer disbelief about the fact that we used to bolt two solid rockets to the side of that thing, lock an immensely complex glider on top of it, load said glider with humans and launch it off the face of our planet?
Just me?
What a trip...
328KF Member
Posts: 1391 From: Registered: Apr 2008
posted 05-17-2016 03:50 PM
It seems pretty crazy, yes. Having been to the Atlantis building at KSC, I can say that looking up at the full size replica of the ET/SRB stack, it gives one a different perspective on the scale of the thing, and the power.
No doubt that display will be rivaled by CSC's plans. Seeing a real orbiter stacked on real Flight hardware with an access tower to see it from different angles will be stunning!
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
NASA's last existing external tank built to launch the space shuttle has made landfall in Los Angeles after a five-week ocean journey.
The massive orange-brown tank, which left New Orleans atop a barge April 12, arrived in Marina del Rey, California Wednesday morning (May 18). The space artifact's 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometer) sea voyage included transiting the Panama Canal to cross from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean.
"[The tank] has entered the breakwater of the marina!" the California Science Center stated on Twitter. "Can't believe this journey!!"
James Brown Member
Posts: 1288 From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA Registered: Jun 2000
posted 05-18-2016 01:21 PM
Okay, I've seen new ET Xing road signs. Any idea if these will be available for sale like the Shuttle Xing signs were?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-18-2016 08:59 PM
No word yet, but there may be an opportunity to learn more this weekend.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-20-2016 12:32 PM
The following astronauts will be walking at times with ET-94 on its way to the Science Center:
Dan Bursch
Drew Feustel
Mike Fincke
Ken Ham
Kay Hire
Sandy Magnus
Danny Olivas
Charlie Precourt
Garrett Reisman
Rick Searfoss
Steve Swanson
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-20-2016 06:26 PM
quote:Originally posted by James Brown: Any idea if these will be available for sale like the Shuttle Xing signs were?
According to Dennis Jenkins, the ET-94 Xing sign is one-of-a-kind.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-20-2016 06:49 PM
From Fisherman's Village and out on a water taxi this afternoon:
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
The space shuttle Endeavour now has its external tank.
The massive orange-brown fuel tank, NASA's last remaining example of its type, built for flight but never used, arrived at the California Science Center on Saturday evening (May 21), completing a nearly one-day road trip through the streets of Los Angeles.
SpaceAngel Member
Posts: 491 From: Maryland Registered: May 2010
posted 05-22-2016 07:13 AM
Will the fuel tank be added with the nose cap and the struts that holds the orbiter?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-22-2016 09:48 AM
Yes, NASA provided the California Science Center with the hardware components to the tank earlier and they are already in Los Angeles. They will be reinstalled and new foam insulation will be applied (with help from the company that developed the foam for NASA).
OV-105 Member
Posts: 917 From: Ridgecrest, CA Registered: Sep 2000
posted 05-22-2016 08:08 PM
How many unfinished tanks are left now? Look like there was maybe one without the foam and a top that had foam.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-23-2016 01:10 AM
Only one: the disassembled ET-GVTA (Ground Vibration Test Article).
The parts left over from tanks in construction at the end of the shuttle program have since been scrapped/recycled.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
The day after its widely-celebrated road trip through Los Angeles, NASA's last remaining built-for-flight space shuttle external tank still needed to be moved a short distance before it could be considered at "home" at the California Science Center.
The massive tank, referred to as ET-94, completed the 19-hour move through the city's streets on Saturday (May 21), traveling the 16 miles (26 kilometers) from Marina del Rey to Exposition Park. It came to a stop on the lawn between the Science Center, Natural History Museum and the L.A. Coliseum at about 7 p.m. PDT (0200 GMT May 22), when the crew overseeing its move decided to call it a night.
"After everyone got a few hours sleep, the move continued this morning," wrote Dennis Jenkins, the Science Center's project director for its space shuttle Endeavour display, in an email sent on Sunday. "We now have ET-94 [parked] in its temporary storage location beside the pavilion housing Endeavour."
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-29-2016 02:28 PM
Here are two time-lapse videos showing the tank's journey through L.A. streets (courtesy David Knight):
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-03-2016 05:35 PM
As the space shuttle external tank was being prepared for its move through the streets of Los Angeles, NASA astronauts in town for the occasion joined members of the Hollywood and Silicon Valley communities — including Oculus founder Palmer Luckey and two Academy Award winners — for a virtual reality shoot aboard Endeavour at the California Science Center, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
The VR shoot included interiors of Endeavour’s flight deck and the Spacehab module as well as NASA astronauts — including Dan Bursch, Drew Feustel, Michael Finke, Kenneth Ham, Kay Hire, Sandra Magnus and Steven Swanson — who simulated in orbit procedures as though Endeavour was in flight.
Additionally, they were interviewed with 4K 2D cameras about the Shuttle and reminisced about their experiences in space. The VR and 2D cameras were also used to film some of the fuel tank's move through the streets.
...the pro-bono shoot was part of a larger effort to document the arrival and impact of Endeavour, with continued involvement from a core team that includes VFX Academy Award winners Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning (Hugo), who are co-founders of the experiential design company Magnopus; Melissa Eccles, VR experience producer for Game of Thrones; and David Knight, California Science Center trustee and founder of tech startup Terbine.
MrSpace86 Member
Posts: 1631 From: Gardner, KS Registered: Feb 2003
posted 06-28-2016 10:08 AM
I will be visiting the California Science Center next month and was wondering if anyone had any tips in regards to seeing Endeavour or the other spacecraft? I haven't been to California in over a decade, so any pointers and tips are welcome.
It does seem that you need to reserve the time to see Endeavour on their website.
MrSpace86 Member
Posts: 1631 From: Gardner, KS Registered: Feb 2003
posted 08-01-2016 05:51 PM
Anybody? I guess it can be an adventure!
thisismills Member
Posts: 566 From: Michigan Registered: Mar 2012
posted 08-02-2016 07:33 AM
I visited earlier this year while on a work trip to LA. Reserved tickets online before heading over since I was on a tight schedule, but turned out not to be necessary as there was no line outside at the ticket reservation window (it was a weekday so not sure how it goes on a weekend). I thought the online reservation was good cheap insurance and it allowed me to walk right into the museum without any chance of a line.
You'll pass the area with the other spacecraft on your walk, on the right just after the escalator up. I did these first, then its a short walk back to the left and down to the shuttle building at the back of the museum (there are plenty of signs directing where to go).
Once entering the Endeavour building, there are many other flown shuttle artifacts and a video of the move through the streets of LA, which was just as interesting and a pleasant surprise. The gift shop is at the end of the exhibit next to the Endeavour.
Plan a couple of hours to just see all the spacecraft in the museum. It's hard to get great photos of the Mercury, Gemini and ASTP since they are mounted inside plexi. For Endeavour, bring a telephoto lens if you want any detailed photos of upper portions as it is mounted up overhead. You can walk most places underneath, minus where the large mounting braces are at the forward and aft ends.
I parked in the semi-underground structure right next to the museum and USC's Coliseum, which also has the Lockheed A-12 two-seat trainer aircraft mounted on a stick outside.
Hope this helps!
MrSpace86 Member
Posts: 1631 From: Gardner, KS Registered: Feb 2003
posted 08-02-2016 03:05 PM
This is perfect!! Thank you so much!
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 08-07-2016 10:02 AM
Update from Dennis Jenkins:
ET-94 is now (relatively) clean. All of the mold, mildew, salt, and dirt that had accumulated from its extended time outside at the Michoud Assembly Facility (New Orleans) and during the sea transit from MAF to Los Angeles have been gently removed. The tank is much happier!
We have received our first shipment of primer from PPG and the first shipment of foam from North Carolina Foam Industries (NCFI) and are about to embark on learning how to reapply foam to restore the tank. We greatly appreciate the support from PPG and NCFI.
We have also completed sorting the myriad of parts that came with the tank and have mostly identified where each goes and how many we are missing (not many, thankfully). Later this year we will start re-installing the pressurization lines and feed lines.
pupnik Member
Posts: 122 From: Maryland Registered: Jan 2014
posted 08-08-2016 03:50 PM
It cleaned up remarkably well. I was worried the mold and mildew was so bad that the discoloration wouldn't be able to be removed, or conversely, that it would have to be cleaned so thoroughly that it would look much brighter than the rest of the UV-aged tank.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
One year after its removal from the space shuttle Endeavour, a metal water tank has been returned by NASA to the California Science Center and reinstalled inside the retired orbiter.
The tank, which was used to collect waste water during Endeavour's missions in Earth orbit, was extracted from under the shuttle's crew cabin in August 2015, at the same time that four similar potable water tanks were also removed.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 11-23-2016 04:01 PM
California Science Center release
'Mission 26: ET Comes Home' Photographs by Gil Garcetti at the California Science Center
"Mission 26: ET Comes Home" features 30 photographs by Gil Garcetti, chronicling ET-94's historic transport from Louisiana, via the Panama Canal and Marina del Rey, to the California Science Center, where it is on display with other Endeavour space shuttle artifacts and exhibits. The exhibition opens on December 15, 2016 in the Science Center's "Endeavour Together" Gallery.
With an eye for both art and science, photographer Gil Garcetti documents the extraordinary journey of the last remaining external tank built for flight (ET-94) as a community celebration of this shared human experience and a tribute to a great engineering feat of transportation. While on display ET-94 is being refurbished, preparing it for the ultimate goal of assembling the world's only authentic space shuttle system in the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
On April 12, 2016, ET-94 left NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana and traveled over 4,400 nautical miles on the barge Gulfmaster I, pulled by a tugboat called the Shannon Dann.
On its way to Los Angeles, ET-94 weathered a storm in the Cayman Islands, traversed the Panama Canal, and made its way up the Pacific Coast. While passing Baja California, the crew rescued four stranded sport fishermen. As with the move of space shuttle Endeavour four years earlier, large crowds came out to cheer ET-94 on as astronauts proudly escorted ET-94 from Marina del Rely to the California Science Center.
Gil Garcetti has been a photographer since about the age of 13. But it wasn't until he left his position as Los Angeles County District Attorney in 2000, that he made photography his profession. Since 2002 he has published seven books. The photographs from these books have been featured in exhibitions around the world including at the United Nations, UNESCO, and the National Building Museum in Washington D.C., in October, at LACMA and in various publications in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
His most recent book, "Japan: A Reverence For Beauty," focuses on the questions of why the Japanese people and culture are so unique in their reverence, respect, and need for beauty and what Westerners can learn from this ancient culture and people.
Garcetti was appointed UNESCO-IHE Cultural Ambassador in 2014 and speaks around the world about the issue of safe water in developing countries and especially how bringing safe water to rural villages in West Africa directly affect the lives of women and girls. Gil's work as producer includes the hit TNT television series "Major Crimes" and "The Closer."
He has been married to his wife Sukey for 53 years. His daughter, Dana, is a lawyer and acupuncturist. His son, Eric, is the Mayor of Los Angeles.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
The pieces are coming together for the towering, launch-pad-like display of NASA's retired space shuttle Endeavour.
Three large parts from two solid rocket boosters are now on a cross country road trip in preparation for the planned 2019 exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
OV-105 Member
Posts: 917 From: Ridgecrest, CA Registered: Sep 2000
posted 12-12-2016 10:15 PM
Do they know which will be the second frustum for Endeavour's display?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-13-2016 06:59 AM
The second frustum has been at Armstrong for several years (details to come).
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
One and a half million people turned out four years ago to watch as space shuttle Endeavour slowly navigated the streets of Los Angeles to be delivered to the California Science Center for display.
Gil Garcetti was not among them.
"I've made few mistakes in my life that I really regret, but one of them was having the opportunity to be present and photograph when the Endeavour went through the streets of Los Angeles," said Garcetti, the former district attorney-turned-photographer, in an interview with collectSPACE. "I was 'too busy' working on another project and I regretted it the day after."
Fortunately for Garcetti, — and now, for the visitors to the California Science Center, who can see his photographs in the new exhibit, "Mission 26: ET Comes Home" — he had a second opportunity.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
The space shuttle Endeavour exhibit at the California Science Center is getting a "boost" in the form of two very large, flight-worthy additions.
Orbital ATK and NASA are donating a pair of solid rocket boosters for the Los Angeles museum's vertical display of the retired orbiter. The two boosters, together with NASA's last existing built-for-flight external tank, will be mounted to Endeavour in the Science Center's new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, creating the world's only fully-authentic exhibit of a space shuttle in its launch configuration.
OV-105 Member
Posts: 917 From: Ridgecrest, CA Registered: Sep 2000
posted 01-10-2017 08:32 AM
I wonder if the SRBs will be filled with something to take the place of the solid fuel. It will be interesting to see the flight history of all the SRB hardware too.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-11-2017 01:58 PM
Per Dennis Jenkins:
The cases will be empty. There have been various analyses performed, and the consensus is that propellant does not affect the bending characteristics of the cases since the flexible spot is the joints. The propellant does not cover the field joints so it doesn't matter if its there or not.
Although the mass might be slightly beneficial in some scenarios, it also greatly complicates the design of the seismic isolator the stack sits on (much easier to design an isolator for a 500,000-pound object than for a 3,000,000-pound one). The mass of propellant, especially up high, would also tend to make the stack sway more.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-11-2017 02:03 PM
Though not directly related to Endeavour's exhibit, it is worth noting that the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be built in Exposition Park, near the California Science Center and the site of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
A twin pair of the world's first reusable rockets have been donated for public display in California, including parts that lifted off on the first launch to use flight-proven booster components 35 years ago.
The California Science Center in Los Angeles will display two flight-worthy solid rocket boosters as part of its vertical exhibit of space shuttle Endeavour, planned to debut to the public in 2019. The solid rocket boosters (SRBs) are being donated to the Science Center by NASA and Orbital ATK, the contractor for the 149-foot-tall (45 meter) rockets.
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 3103 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 03-29-2017 05:24 AM
It is cool to see how many flights those have flown and that we have seen some of those live.
btguest Member
Posts: 35 From: Waldorf, MD Registered: Oct 2008
posted 03-29-2017 09:01 AM
That will be some display, and truly worthy of the orbiter Endeavor.
I have a question. I thought that the SRBs would have been owned entirely by NASA, however "NASA and Orbital ATK" are donating. Did NASA transfer ownership to ATK after the shuttle program shut down? Or is each entity donating major components that essentially equal the SRB stack?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53052 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-29-2017 10:17 AM
quote:Originally posted by btguest: Or is each entity donating major components that essentially equal the SRB stack?
Per Orbital ATK's release, the solid rocket motor parts are a joint donation of Orbital ATK and NASA. Per Dennis Jenkins:
As for the non-motor parts of the booster, we sourced a set of flight-worthy aft skirts and frustums from NASA surplus and a set of forward skirts that were used for tests for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) Program that are currently in Utah at Orbital ATK. Orbital ATK and NASA are providing most of the smaller parts, like booster separation motors, from surplus.
pupnik Member
Posts: 122 From: Maryland Registered: Jan 2014
posted 04-01-2017 08:55 AM
It's great to see that construction is expected to begin this summer as well. It's easy for these types of projects to keep limping along making changes here and there and watching costs rise just as fast as donations do.
Hopefully we get frequent updates like with the Atlantis exhibit construction at KSC to keep the excitement rolling along.