{"id":524046,"date":"2026-11-09T19:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/524046\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T19:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:16:11","slug":"samuel-oschin-air-and-space-center-debuts-in-exposition-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/524046\/","title":{"rendered":"Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center Debuts in Exposition Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

The California Science Center expansion debuts on Nov. 13<\/p>\n

Strange shapes have been rising all around the Coliseum. Exposition Park has become L.A.\u2019s hotbed of contemporary architecture, with the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center <\/a>joining the Lucas Museum and BMO Stadium this month. The 20-story stainless steel cone at the heart of the complex houses the only space shuttle in the world displayed in launch position, and it is a showstopper.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming and it\u2019s finally here,\u201d says Oschin\u2019s widow Lynda, the lead donor for the new space center. \u201cSeattle thought they were going to get it, and Houston was sure they were going to get it, but our proposal was the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnAn aerial view of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space CenterCredit: Mike Kelley<\/p>\n

Oschin was at LAX when the 747 carrying the shuttle Endeavour touched down in 2012 after a cross-country farewell tour to begin its three-day journey from the airport to Downtown. Jeffrey Rudolph, CEO of the California Science Center, and Kenneth Phillips, Curator for Aerospace Science, were there too.<\/p>\n

The pair were determined to bring a shuttle to L.A. since the day the space plane\u2019s retirement was announced. \u201cThe space shuttle,\u201d Phillips says, \u201cis the most complicated flying machine ever built. It\u2019s about the human quest to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SpaceCredit: California Science Center<\/p>\n

From Palmdale to Downey, the space program has employed tens of thousands of Angelenos over the decades, and Southern California is still a hotbed of innovation. New rockets from Long Beach and Hawthorne sit next to relics from the Apollo era in the new 200,000-square-foot museum complex. \u201cThe whole mission is to inspire learning,\u201d Rudolph says. \u201cAnd get people excited about science.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Space<\/p>\n

Have Questions? Get Answers!<\/p>\n

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The massive complex includes scores of aircrafts, from a Wright brothers\u2019 flyer to drones that kids can pilot around a scale model of Los Angeles to a full-size 747 rescued from an airplane graveyard and restored to offer a simulated flight from LAX to ICN [Seoul, South Korea]. \u201cIt\u2019s our signature experience,\u201d Rudolph says. \u201cEspecially for kids who\u2019ve never been on a plane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LocatedLocated in the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, the Pitts S-1C Special is a lightweight open-cockpit aerobatic biplaneCredit: Yeva Ohanjanyan<\/p>\n

\"ThisThis space shuttle main engine, set in the Kent Kresa Space Gallery, was made by Aerojet Rocketdyne in Canoga Park,Credit: Yeva Ohanjanyan<\/p>\n

All of these wonders pale next to Endeavour. We don\u2019t want to spoil the fun, but let\u2019s just say the shuttle reveal includes a new film by J.J. Abrams, a lot of smoke and a 45-foot slide with a psychedelic light show inside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The California Science Center expansion debuts on Nov. 13 Strange shapes have been rising all around the Coliseum.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[36414,32318,48,52,51,47,50,49,2311,197591,200131,1744],"class_list":["post-524046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-california-science-center","tag-exposition-park","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-museums","tag-november-2026","tag-samuel-oschin-air-and-space-center","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}