California Science Center to Open Vertical Shuttle Exhibit

The Space Shuttle Endeavour will be permanently displayed in a towering, upright launch position when the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center opens at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on November 13. Officials announced the opening date this week, marking the culmination of a project more than three decades in the making.

The exhibit will be the only place in the world where the public can view a complete, authentic space shuttle system stacked for launch. The display features the flown orbiter Endeavour attached to two real solid rocket boosters and ET94, the last remaining flight-qualified external tank. The nearly 200-foot-tall stack is the centerpiece of the new 200,000-square-foot facility, which nearly doubles the science center's exhibit space.

Visitors will be able to walk beneath the orbiter's main engines, view its open payload bay, and ascend via elevator to multiple viewing platforms, including one with a glass floor looking down onto the shuttle. An introductory film produced by J.J. Abrams' company will precede the dramatic reveal of the spacecraft. The new center will also house more than 100 other aerospace artifacts and hands-on exhibits across...