NASA-Space shuttle Endeavour, perched atop NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft landed at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at 12:51 p.m. PDT Friday, ending a cross-country ferry mission and returning to its place of birth, California.
Endeavour was NASA's fifth and final space shuttle to be built. Construction began on Sept. 28, 1987 and it rolled out of the assembly plant in Palmdale, Calif. in April 1991. It was named after a ship chartered to traverse the South Pacific in 1768 and captained by 18th century explorer James Cook. Endeavour flew 25 times, traveling more than 122,000 miles and accumulating 299 days in space. Like shuttles Discovery, Enterprise and Atlantis, Endeavour is embarking on its next mission - to inspire the next generation of explorers and engineers at the California Science Center.
Space Shuttle Endeavour is ferried by NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) over Houston, Texas on September 19, 2012. NASA pilots Jeff Moultrie of Huntsville, Alabama and Bill Rieke are at the controls of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Photo taken by NASA photographer Sheri Locke in the backseat of a NASA T-38 chase plane with NASA pilot Thomas E. Parent at the controls.
Beginning Oct. 30, the shuttle will be on display in the California Science center's Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion.
The space shuttle Endeavour, atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, lands at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. Today's flight marks the final scheduled ferry flight of the Space Shuttle Program. Photo Credit: NASA/Matt Hedges
NASA's space shuttle fleet began setting records with its first launch on April 12, 1981 and continued to set high marks of achievement and endurance through 30 years of missions. Starting with Columbia and continuing with Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, the spacecraft has carried people into orbit repeatedly, launched, recovered and repaired satellites, conducted cutting-edge research and built the largest structure in space, the International Space Station. The final space shuttle mission, STS-135, ended July 21, 2011 when Atlantis rolled to a stop at its home port, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
As humanity's first reusable spacecraft, the space shuttle pushed the bounds of discovery ever farther, requiring not only advanced technologies but the tremendous effort of a vast workforce. Thousands of civil servants and contractors throughout NASA's field centers and across the nation have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to mission success and the greater goal of space exploration. -NASA.gov