Space Shuttle Endeavour: Reservations open next week to see exhibit

The Space Shuttle Endeavour, NASA’s final space shuttle, will soon be available again for public viewing.

Advance reservations for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center can be made beginning Oct. 21 at 9:30 a.m., ahead of its opening on Nov. 13.

California Science Center members will receive early access to reservations beginning Monday at the same time.

The Space Center, a 200,000-square-foot expansion of the California Science Center, will be the permanent home of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, exhibited in a launch-ready position within a complete shuttle stack — the world’s only display with orbiter, solid rocket boosters and a rare surviving external tank.

The center will double the museum’s exhibit space and feature three multilevel galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery. Visitors will be able to explore more than 100 artifacts and 100 hands-on exhibits focused on science, technology and engineering.

The Endeavour made 25 successful missions into space from 1992 to 2011. In 2012, the shuttle landed at LAX on top of a modified Boeing 747 and made its final voyage across Los Angeles to the California Science Center at Exposition Park.

“Fourteen years after Space Shuttle Endeavour arrived at the California Science Center, following its incredible overland journey across Los Angeles and Inglewood, reservations will soon become available to see it in its permanent home this November,” said Jeffrey Rudolph, president and chief executive of the California Science Center.

The center’s opening will conclude the third and final phase of a three-decade, $750-million master plan to develop the museum (the expansion goal was $450 million). The EndeavourLA fundraising campaign helped acquire and temporarily display the shuttle while supporting ongoing exhibits, programs and operations. Donors included the Samuel Oschin Family Foundation, Korean Air, the Kresa Family Foundation, the state of California, corporate supporters and other foundations.

“We are incredibly excited, and we actually think people are gonna come from all over the world to see this thing,” Rudolph told The Times in June.

The 20-story permanent home for the shuttle was designed by ZGF Architects and was completed in April.

General admission to the California Science Center is free, but reservations for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, including the shuttle, are encouraged. Reservations can be made on the center’s website or by calling (213) 744-2019.