Space Shuttle Endeavour stood horizontal in a Los Angeles hangar for more than a decade. On Friday, November 13, 2026, the public saw it upright for the first time, bolted to an external tank and two solid rocket boosters in a 20-story launch configuration at the California Science Center. The Space Shuttle Endeavour LA home is the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, a 200,000-square-foot expansion in Exposition Park, and it is the only place in the world where a complete, flown shuttle system is on display.
Space Shuttle Endeavour LA home opens to the public
The Space Shuttle Endeavour LA home opened at 10 a.m. after a ribbon cutting and a celebratory program with about 30 astronauts, including all six crew members from Endeavour’s final mission, STS-134, commanded by now U.S. Senator Mark Kelly. General admission to the California Science Center, including the new center, is free. Timed reservations are required for entry to the Air and Space Center because of high demand, and they carry a $4 service fee.
Endeavour was the last space shuttle built. It flew 25 missions between 1992 and 2011, helped build the International Space Station and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA selected the California Science Center as its permanent home ahead of its final mission. The shuttle arrived in Los Angeles in 2012 aboard a modified Boeing 747, then travelled through city streets to the museum, where it sat horizontally in the Samuel Oschin Pavilion while the new building was planned and built. Construction on the new center began in June 2022, after years of planning that stretched back to the museum’s three-decade master plan.
How the Space Shuttle Endeavour LA home was built
Inside the Space Shuttle Endeavour LA home, the display uses the orbiter, the ET-94 external tank and real solid rocket boosters, mated during a months-long process called “Go for Stack” that finished in 2024. ET-94 was the last flight-qualified external tank. The building was then finished around the stack, with a curving stainless steel envelope that supports the structure. The Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery rises nearly 200 feet, and visitors can view the shuttle from several levels. A 140-foot gantry-style elevator carries visitors up beside the stack.
The Space Shuttle Endeavour LA home holds three multi-level galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery. Together they hold more than 100 artifacts and 100 hands-on exhibits about atmospheric flight and the exploration of the universe. The Korean Air Aviation Gallery includes the 70-foot forward section of a retired Korean Air Boeing 747-400, bringing the shuttle and the jumbo jet that once carried it together again on exhibit. Boeing gave significant support to the expansion.
The Space Shuttle Endeavour LA home was designed by ZGF, with engineering by Arup, construction by MATT Construction and exhibition design by Evidence Design. The 200,000-square-foot expansion nearly doubles the museum’s exhibit space, and its opening completes the third and final phase of the California Science Center’s master plan to develop the site over three decades. The center says the new galleries invite visitors of all ages to investigate the science behind human flight.
Space Shuttle Endeavour LA home draws crowds
Astronaut, aviation and space-themed talks run every half hour from Friday, November 13 through Sunday, November 15, from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last talk at 4 p.m. Governor Gavin Newsom visited the installation ahead of the opening and spoke about California’s space industry in front of the shuttle. U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Mark Kelly joined astronauts and local leaders for the grand opening, and Padilla’s office described the display as the world’s only complete space shuttle system on view anywhere.
The Space Shuttle Endeavour LA home is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 700 Exposition Park Drive in Los Angeles, in the complex the Science Center shares with the Natural History Museum. Visitors can book timed reservations in advance through the California Science Center website, and members have the $4 service fee waived. Walk-up visitors can enter without the fee when a time slot is open, though the museum expects heavy demand in the opening weeks.