The space shuttle Endeavor at the California Science Center. Image copyright 2017 by Anna Boudinot
Los Angeles gets criticized for its sprawling network of freeways and roads, its “car culture,” and the tendency for its residents to be disconnected from each other and from the outside world. Yet many of the most powerful moments of connection one experiences in Los Angeles happen on the very roads the city is disparaged for.
Case in point: in January 2017, 750,000 Angelenos took to the streets of downtown LA for the Women’s March, an astonishing number that surpassed even the primary march in Washington, DC. When it became clear that the quantity of marchers exceeded the capacity of the route from Pershing Square to City Hall, the police department shut down additional streets to give marchers passage. For marchers like me, it was an incredible experience not just for the immensity of it, but for the mood of the crowd. It defied the stereotype of a Los Angeles that is shallow, vapid, and lacking in culture: fellow marchers shared hope, solidarity, and pride in their city.
A similar mood could be found in October 2012, though it wasn’t a presidential election that brought Angelenos together in the streets. It was a space shuttle.
NASA’s Space Shuttle Program was pretty much the most awesome thing happening in the United States in the 1980s. Designed to support the construction of the International Space Station, the program supplied Americans with a boost of patriotic pride, faith in American ingenuity, and intrigue about cosmic expansionism as the Cold War dragged on. Between the Columbia and Challenger orbiters, there were eighteen manned flights in the decade between 1980 and 1990. In 1986, the Challenger disaster was not just a tragedy for NASA, but a profound tragedy for the entire United States – a moment in history similar to JFK’s assassination where people remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when it happened. Rather than halting the Space Shuttle program for good, the disaster became a symbol of American perseverance when NASA authorized the construction of a new shuttle to replace Challenger.
Endeavour booty. Photo copyright 2017 by Anna Boudinot
Endeavour, named by schoolchildren in a contest, took its name from the ship that carried 18th-century explorer James Cook on a voyage to chart Venus’ transit across the sun. Despite its British name, Endeavour was Californian from the very start. It was constructed by Rockwell International in Palmdale, Los Angeles County. From 1992-2011, the orbiter flew nearly 123 million miles over the course of 25 missions. It carried the first African American woman, Mae Jemison, into orbit, serviced the Hubble telescope, and aided in the construction of the space station. Upon its decommission, over twenty organizations clamored for the honor of housing the shuttle in its retirement. The California Science Center won.
Returning the shuttle to its home state was accomplished via a specially-modified and meticulously engineered Boeing 747. Endeavour essentially took a piggyback ride atop the airplane, quite a sight as it zoomed above famous Los Angeles landmarks such as the Hollywood Sign, Disneyland, and Santa Monica Pier. It landed at LAX on September 21, 2012 and then began a journey in many ways more treacherous than space travel itself: navigating the eleven miles through Los Angeles streets to its final resting place.
The route from LAX to the California Science Center was plotted out months in advance and surrounded by rumors and minor controversy. Because the shuttle was too tall to pass underneath the 405, it had to pass over it, at Manchester Avenue. Though city engineers confirmed that the bridge could bear the load, LA Weekly predicted a catastrophe in which the bridge collapsed (it didn’t). Other precautions included raising power lines and trimming tree branches that inhibited Endeavour’s 78-foot wingspan. As part of this effort, hundreds of decades-old trees were chopped down – possibly in violation of city code – with younger, less shady, trees being replanted a couple years later. Other trees were spared. In the end, the only complications that truly hampered Endeavour’s trip had to do with the mechanical shortcomings of the trailers that were towing it.
The exterior of the California Science Center. Photo copyright 2019 by Anna Boudinot
As it traversed the city streets, Endeavour drew crowds of over one million spectators at all hours of the day and night. People became choked up with emotion as they laid eyes on the awe-inducing vessel that had performed the amazing feat of taking human beings into outer space. They cheered triumphantly as Endeavour inched its way around lampposts and slowly cruised along city streets normally packed with cars. One Los Angeles times columnist eloquently described the event as follows:
It took 68 hours for Endeavour to coast along those beautiful palm-lined boulevards from LAX to the California Science Center, uniting Angelenos as they witnessed the spectacle together. Endeavour serves as a reminder that Americans can accomplish whatever they dream possible, and that Los Angeles is not as disconnected as one might think.
Endeavour is on view at the California Science Center in Exposition Park seven days a week. Admission is free. Visit the rose garden and the California African American Museum while you’re there!