EXPOSITION PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The California Science Center opened its Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center to the public on Friday, with the space shuttle Endeavor displayed in a launch configuration nearly 200 feet high. The morning grand opening program was followed by a public dedication at 10 a.m. at the Science Center, 700 Exposition Park Drive. Astronauts were among those in attendance, including the six crew members of Endeavor’s final mission. STS-134, which was commanded by now Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona. “Kids from all over the country will visit this place, look at that spaceship and be inspired to build and do hard things,” Kelly said. “They will be inspired to explore and dream about the future.” Endeavor is displayed with authentic solid rocket boosters and an external tank, creating what the Science Center says is the only complete, authentic space shuttle system on display anywhere in the world. The 200,000-square-foot expansion nearly doubles the Science Center’s exhibit space and includes 100 aerospace artifacts and 100 hands-on exhibits focused on science and engineering. The shuttle gallery rises nearly 200 feet and includes a 140-foot elevator ride up the launch pad to a glass-floored observation deck above the orbiter. Other exhibits allow visitors to try out a shuttle landing simulator, sit inside a replica flight deck and descend a 45-foot slide designed to evoke the shuttle’s return through Earth’s atmosphere. The center has three multi-level galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery. At the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, the first artifacts are already in place, and there will be more about humans and robots in space, and the rockets that take them there. more than a dozen aircraft, including gliders and fighter jets, as well as part of a Korean Air Boeing 747-400. Visitors can experience a five-minute simulated flight from Los Angeles to Seoul, the center said. The space gallery includes flown spacecraft, including the Mercury-Redstone 2 capsule, the Gemini 11 capsule, and the Apollo-Soyuz command module. It also features exhibits developed with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, including models and replicas representing six decades of robotic exploration and hands-on activities such as programming a miniature Mars rover. Free astronaut and aerospace talks will be held every half hour during opening weekend, Friday through Sunday, with the final talk scheduled for 4 p.m. Topics will include women in space, mission overviews, and other aviation and space topics, with presentations from astronauts and experts from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Armstrong Flight Research. Center.”Endeavor’s Long Voyage,” a photographic exhibit documenting the shuttle’s final flight over California, its 12-mile, 68-hour journey through Los Angeles and Inglewood, and its vertical installation at the Science Center, will also open Friday. The exhibition can be seen in the Weingart Foundation Special Exhibitions Gallery on the third floor. It is included with general admission and no timed reservations are required. General admission to the Science Center is free. Timed reservations are required for the new center due to anticipated demand, and the $4 service fee is waived for Science Center members and same-day in-person reservations. Admission may be limited or unavailable without advance reservations. The Air and Space Center will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. City News Service contributed to this report. Copyright © 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
