With the two solid rocket boosters standing in place, the external tank (ET-94) will be lifted and lowered between them and then Endeavour will make its final move across Exposition Park to be hoisted by cranes and mated, completing the stack. Then the two forward assemblies will be mated to the top of the SRMs and once stacked, they all complete the solid rocket boosters. When ready - the date has yet to be set - two large cranes will be used to lift the SRMs one at a time and mate them to their aft skirts, which were hoisted into place within the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center construction site in July. So they'll be sitting there outside for a little bit," said Rudolph of the newly-delivered solid rocket motors. "They pulled up just north of the science center and will be offloaded there for a few weeks of work that will done here on site. One of the parts, which was used to connect the right-hand solid rocket booster to the external tank, last lifted off on STS-127, Hurley's first spaceflight. The two inert motors were assembled from hardware that was previously used in 32 static ground tests and 81 space shuttle missions, including 16 of Endeavour's 25 launches. Northrop Grumman originally delivered the two SRMs to the Mojave Air and Space Port in 2020, where they waited until they were needed for the science center's "Go for Stack" operation got underway. "It is a proud moment and I'm glad that we could be a part of it." "It's an honor just being able to contribute to this exhibit the great history that the shuttle program had, and obviously, the great history that Northrop Grumman and before that Orbital ATK had - it's just as long a 30 year history that we supported the shuttle," Hurley told collectSPACE. Blvd., representing the company that originally built, serviced and ultimately donated the SRMs for flight and now their display. PDT, when they proceeded past a ceremonial "finish line" to the California Science Center about 15 minutes later.įormer NASA astronaut Doug Hurley, who flew on Endeavour and is now a senior director at Northrop Grumman, joined the festivities at Martin Luther King Jr. PDT, the convoy exited the freeway for surface streets, making their way to Figueroa, where the public had been directed to get their best view the SRMs driving along the route.Īs spectators cheered and took photos, the trucks paused at Figueroa and Martin Luther King Jr. EDT or 1000 GMT), the SRMs got underway again, taking the 605 southbound to I-105 westbound and then merging onto I-110 northbound. The SRMs spent much of Tuesday afternoon and part of the night parked along the shoulder of I-605 southbound to set up their daytime arrival at the California Science Center.Įarly Wednesday morning, beginning at 3 a.m. Riding atop two 36-wheel transporters, each of them towed by a semi-trailer truck with a "Wide Load" sign and an American flag mounted to their roofs, the SRM convoy, when parked bumper to fender, stretched about the same length as six yellow school busses. Motorists driving along CA-58, US-395, I-15 and I-605 got the first view of the two 116-foot-long (35-meter) solid rocket motors as they departed Mojave for L.A. Click to enlarge video in a new, pop-up window. It's really the last big piece that the general public will be able to participate in, because the lifts that are coming up to stack the parts in the building will be on a construction site with very large cranes and limited space," Jeffrey Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center, said in an interview with collectSPACE. about making the last section of the move during the daylight hours so that people could come out and participate like they did when Endeavour came from LAX or ET-94 came from Marina del Rey. Now, they will be the first to stand up vertically in the science center's new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, serving as the pillars holding up the external tank and Endeavour when the stack debuts on public display in the coming few years. The SRMs form the largest part of the solid rocket boosters (SRBs) that during the space shuttle program fired in tandem with the orbiter's three main engines to produce the majority of the thrust needed to lift the vehicle off the launch pad. The last major parts needed to exhibit Endeavour in its vertical, ready-for-launch configuration, the two solid rocket motors (SRMs) completed a two-day, 100-mile (160-kilometer) trip from the Mojave Air and Space Port to the California Science Center on Wednesday (Oct. They may not be as iconic as Endeavour or as large as the orbiter's external tank, but the sight of twin rockets moving through the streets of Los Angeles was enough to once again draw a crowd to watch the space shuttle components being delivered to the site of their future display.
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