Spacecraft at the California Science Center: The Endeavour- Part 1

I recently had the opportunity to visit the California Science Center in Los Angeles. My main purpose was to see the space shuttle Endeavour, which is on display there. The Science Center is located south of downtown Los Angeles across the street from the Los Angeles Stadium (where the 1984 Summer Olympics were held). Even though the Science Center admission is free the parking was $12.00. Upon entrance to the main hall I found their maps of the place somewhat confusing. The The Samuel Oschin Pavilion was listed as being on the first; the map indicated you had to go to the second floor to access it...

Here is the first floor map of the Science Center. It shows the Endeavour on the first floor but, access is only from the second floor???

To access the Oschin Pavilion one has to go up stairs, turn left and go back down a set of stairs at the end of the hall.

To get access to the Oschin Pavilion one must reserve a time to enter the exhibit. Needless to say I found the setup a bit convoluted. The Oschin Pavilion is currently a temporary space to house the Endeavour: somewhat like a large hangar. Future plans call for a large facility to display the Endeavour along with the external fuel tank and solid rockets vertically . Photographing the Endeavour is a bit challenging due to the size of the hangar. A gift shop obscures a complete view of the shuttle except for one corner. Nevertheless, it was quite impressive to view the Endeavour! In comparison to the Discovery exhibit at the Udvar-Hazy Center, this display allows the viewer to walk under this shuttle.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour

  The following photo gallery consists of detail shots of the Endeavour. These photos should be of interest to persons looking to accurate details in constructing a scale model. I found many small details that I was unaware of from my reference materials. Hopefully, you might find these photos useful! Here is a brief  History of the Endeavour.

Space Shuttle Endeavour Walk-a-round

As you can see part of the port side was obscured by the gift shop displays.

Detail of the forward RCS.

A detail shot of the parachute compartment at the aft of the vertical stabilizer. 

The port fuel connectors.

That's it. Next installment will look at the other spacecraft on exhibit at the California Science Center!

Ad Astra!