Space Shuttle Endeavour Stands Upright in LA This November

Starting this November, you can walk beneath a real space shuttle standing tall and ready for launch in Los Angeles.

The California Science Center in Exposition Park opens its new exhibit on November 13, featuring Space Shuttle Endeavour in full vertical launch position. This is the only place on Earth where you can see a complete, authentic space shuttle system exactly as it appeared before blasting into orbit.

The 200-foot-tall display includes the actual Endeavour orbiter attached to real solid rocket boosters and ET-94, the last remaining flight-qualified external tank. Visitors can walk directly under the shuttle's main engines, peek inside its open payload bay, and climb elevated platforms to view the spacecraft from multiple angles.

"This is a view that nobody really has ever gotten," said project director Dennis Jenkins, who has worked on shuttle displays for over 30 years. "When you walk in there, first thing you see is an entire stack of real hardware looking exactly like it did on the launchpad."

The exhibit opens inside the newly completed Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, a 200,000-square-foot addition that nearly doubles the Science Center's exhibit space. The new center will house more than 100 aerospace artifacts and hands-on exhibits focused on aviation and space exploration.

Endeavour flew 25 NASA missions between 1992 and 2011 before retiring to Los Angeles in 2012. The shuttle was lifted into its current vertical configuration in 2024 after a six-month assembly process called "Go for Stack."

Why This Inspires

This exhibit brings space exploration down to Earth in the most spectacular way possible. Unlike seeing a shuttle lying horizontal in a museum, standing beneath Endeavour in launch position creates the same awe that engineers and astronauts felt at Cape Canaveral. It transforms history into an experience you can walk through and look up at with wonder.

The exhibit includes an introductory film about the shuttle and the thousands of people who worked on it, ending with footage of Endeavour's final launch. Science Center officials expect huge crowds and plan to implement timed entry to ensure everyone gets the full experience.

For anyone who dreamed of witnessing a shuttle launch, this is your chance to stand where astronauts stood and see what they saw.