Saturday is typically the busiest day for James Fugate, who co-owns Eso Won Books in South Los Angeles. “I’m still excited, but I’m disappointed that people aren’t going to be able to stand in the streets and shout ‘Yay,’ ” he said.

But the store, which serves up sweets 24-7, will be closed Friday night. In the days leading up to Endeavour’s move, the owners of Randy’s Donuts sold shuttle-shaped pastries emblazoned with the NASA logo and even hung a shuttle replica inside the giant doughnut hole sign visible from the busy Interstate 405.Ĭo-owner Larry Weintraub planned to watch the shuttle creep by the roadside sign, which has been featured in several movies. The behemoth transport has caused headaches for shopkeepers along the route who counted on cheering crowds jamming the curbs to boost business. Guarded by a security detail reminiscent of a presidential visit, police enforced rolling street and sidewalk closures as early as Thursday night in some locations and discouraged spectators from swarming side streets. Ushering a shuttle through an urban core is a logistical challenge that took almost a year to plan. It was expected to move again in the early afternoon then stop for several more hours to transfer to a special dolly for the cross over the busy Interstate 405 at night. Like our skin.”Įndeavour will remain at the parking lot for a nine-hour layover as crews work to widen the carrier so that it could straddle the median during the next part of the trip. You can almost feel the fabric of it, like a skin. “It’s exciting to see the tiles up close, especially the texture of the tiles,” she said. Janet Dion, a family therapist from nearby Manhattan Beach, was in awe to see the shuttle, its sides weathered by millions of miles in space and two dozen re-entries. In a massive feat of parallel parking, the shuttle was backed into a shopping center parking lot around 5:30 a.m.

The shuttle made stop-and-go progress, with some halts to check its balance and to prune trees in its path as it rolled past strip malls and storefronts. Hundreds of spectators waiting in the predawn darkness snapped photos and gaped as the 170,000-pound Endeavour inched by with its tail towering over streetlights and its wings spanning the roadway. Rolled on a 160-wheeled carrier, it left from a hangar at the Los Angeles International Airport, passing diamond-shaped “Shuttle Xing” signs, and reached city streets about two hours later. In retirement, it’s crawling along the streets of Los Angeles at a sluggish 2 mph, a pace that rush-hour commuters can sympathize with.Įndeavour’s two-day, 12-mile road trip to the California Science Center where it will be put on display kicked off around midnight Friday. LOS ANGELES - At its prime, the space shuttle Endeavour circled the globe at 17,500 mph, faster than a speeding bullet.

Space shuttle endeavour hours