Endeavour’s Futuristic Home: Inside the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in Los Angeles

Endeavour’s New, Purpose-Built Museum Home

Fourteen years after its final mission, Space Shuttle Endeavour now rests in a permanent, purpose-built home as the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center nears completion in Los Angeles. The California Science Center is finishing the $425 million expansion adjacent to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum near Figueroa Street. The project adds roughly 200,000 square feet to the Exposition Park campus and is slated to open to the public in late summer 2025 with free general admission.

Striking Design Inspired by the Shuttle

The new building features a sweeping, curved stainless-steel exterior whose aerodynamic lines were inspired by Endeavour’s fuselage, wings, and vertical stabilizer. Rising the equivalent of 20 stories, the structure uses a diagrid structural system — a self-supporting lattice of diagonally intersecting steel beams — that eliminates interior columns and creates unobstructed sightlines so visitors can view the orbiter from many elevations and angles.

How the Shuttle Was Assembled on Site

On January 30, 2024, the California Science Center completed an unprecedented "Go for Stack" procedure outside of a NASA facility. Over about six months, engineers assembled the full Space Shuttle system into a vertical launch configuration. The process began with installing aft skirts anchored to a concrete pad mounted on seismic isolators beneath the building — an important safety measure in earthquake-prone California. Technicians then stacked the solid rocket motors and nose cones to form the tall white solid rocket boosters and lifted and attached the large orange external tank, ET-94. Finally, a crane raised Endeavour and mated the orbiter to the boosters and tank, producing the world’s only authentic, complete Space Shuttle System on public display.

Galleries, Exhibits and Visitor Experiences

The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will house three multi-level galleries across four floors: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery. Visitors will be able to experience the shuttle from multiple vantage points throughout the building’s 20-story interior and can ride a gantry that lifts guests nearly 200 feet for a close look at the orbiter’s top. Additional attractions include a 45-foot slide from the second floor to the ground floor and hands-on, educational exhibits.

The Korean Air Aviation Gallery will showcase approximately 20 authentic aircraft displayed both on the floor and suspended from the ceiling. The Kent Kresa Space Gallery will trace the U.S. human spaceflight program with artifacts and spacecraft examples such as the Mercury MR-2, Gemini 11, and the Apollo-Soyuz capsules, alongside roughly 100 authentic artifacts and 100 interactive exhibits designed to engage visitors of all ages.

Why it matters: The Oschin Center not only preserves Endeavour for public viewing but also creates an immersive educational environment that connects visitors with aviation and space history in a dramatic, architecturally innovative setting.