Space shuttle Endeavour takes final flight to museum home

Rex

Thousands of space fans in Houston cheered space shuttle Endeavour as the United States' last retired shuttle circled overhead and landed in the city this week. SCROLL DOWN TO SEE VIDEO.

Perched atop a modified Boeing 747, space shuttle Endeavour departed Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:22 am EDT yesterday (Weds).

Rex

NASA pilots Jeff Moultrie and Bill Rieke were at the controls of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified 747 jetliner. It will fly Endeavour to Los Angeles where it will be placed on public display at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

Endeavour was built from 1987 to 1991 to replace the destroyed Challenger shuttle, which exploded 73 seconds after its takeoff on 28 January, 1986.




The California Science Center is one of the four locations across the country selected to display NASA's retired space shuttle vehicles.

Museums in suburban Washington DC, Florida and New York will receive the remaining shuttles and a prototype vehicle.

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