Space Shuttle Endeavour Lands in Los Angeles

Early Friday afternoon, the Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at Los Angeles International Airport, completing one final flight on its way to a permanent display at the California Science Center.

As the morning began, LAX — the world’s sixth busiest airport — operated with workday efficiency, the roars of passing jets coming in waves. Thousands of passengers were getting an early start on the weekend, boarding flights for Cleveland, Seattle, or, if airplane decals are to be believed, Tahiti.

But by the early afternoon, taxiing aircraft were halted for a few minutes to give a particular VIP (Very Important Plane) a clear shot at the runway. According to Diana Sanchez, a community relations manager for LAX, the shuttle’s arrival caused minimal disruption for normally scheduled commercial traffic. Air-based traffic was required to keep a 30-mile distance, and all activity on the southern runways was halted for a few minutes as Endeavour lumbered by.


The airport is no stranger to unusual visitors, having hosted large aircraft prototypes and Air Force One. “LAX is accustomed to making these sorts of modifications,” says Sanchez, “so we’re not anticipating any major disruptions.”

With tufts of vaporized tire rubber popping from the carrier 747’s wheels as it hit the runway, the piggybacking space shuttle landed and taxied toward the United Airlines hangar. It passed Delta, American, and Alaskan airlines jets, whose passengers were no doubt stunned to see an unusual tarmac companion.

Over the next few weeks, Endeavour will be unbolted and prepped for its 12-mile journey through the streets of Los Angeles. Work crews have been clearing the path for weeks, removing trees and dismantling utility poles.

Endeavour completed 25 successful takeoffs and touchdowns during its two-decade-long tenure as a space-going vehicle, but its landing on Friday was undoubtedly the most closely watched of its career. Millions of people followed along as it flew over several cities across the southern U.S.; tweets hashtagged #SpotTheShuttle provided a real-time trace of its journey.

In Mountain View, California, Sanjoy Som and his colleagues went to the roof of their laboratory at NASA’s Ames Research Center to watch as Endeavour circled the Bay Area. “It was only a couple of hundred feet away,” he reports, “it was really an awe-inspiring sight.”  For Som, seeing the shuttle was particularly meaningful. As an undergrad at the Florida Institute of Technology, he witnessed several launches; now, as a NASA scientist, he’s seen the shuttle’s final flight. “The Space Shuttles have been inspiring me for a long time. The flyover closes the loop in a sense,” he says.

In Pasadena, biochemist and Canadian astronaut corps finalist Ryan Hunter was equally reflective.  “Endeavour and her sisters have inspired so may people in so many ways,” he says. “For me, as an aspiring astronaut, it’s pretty special, yet bittersweet to witness its final flight. It represents a lot of history but also one less opportunity to fly in space.”

After the landing, the celebratory mood carried over into the oceanside communities surrounding the airport.  In El Segundo, cars honked and pedestrians cheered as they made their way home. Among the onlookers was Judith Reyes, a math major at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “I’ve always been very interested in flight and airplanes,” she says, “so I knew I couldn’t miss this.  It’s so cool that the Space Shuttle is right here, so close.”

Other Angelenos weren’t quite as impressed. “Shuttle schmuttle,” deadpanned Eliot Lebovic, owner of the cycling apparel company Bike Vivant. He fortuitously saw the flyover while running errands in the L.A. suburb of Arcadia. “It’s kind of cool, but it’s not a huge news event in science, it’s not doing anything. It’s generating a lot of excitement for a program that is now essentially over.”

Endeavour’s move to its retirement home has prompted discussion of the state of America’s manned spaceflight program, which currently relies on Russian capabilities for rides to the International Space Station. The vanilla-named Space Launch System has been under development for one year and will eventually allow astronauts to travel beyond low Earth orbit.

But for now, much of the country has seized on the Endeavour’s arrival as a moment to celebrate the shuttle program and the reliable access to space it provided. The last shuttle has completed its final flight, marking the end of an important era in NASA’s history.