by Timothy Rutt
Space shuttle Endeavour's final flight is scheduled for this morning as it takes off from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center near Edwards Air Force Base.
According to NASA, the final flight of the shuttle was delayed an hour from the previous announced schedule to allow the fog to clear from San Francisco, which will be one of the locations the shuttle will fly over today. Other Northern California locations include Sacramento and Monterey.
The latest schedule calls for the shuttle to fly over JPL sometime after 11:30 AM. It will also hit the Griffith Observatory, Disneyland, the Getty Museum, and Venice Beach on its Southern California sweep before landing at LAX approximately 12:45 PM.
After landing at LAX, Endeavour will be removed from the modified 747 carrier aircraft and undergo several weeks of preparations in a United Airlines hangar. Then, it will travel 12 miles through Inglewood and Los Angeles streets to its new permanent home, the California Science Center, where it is schedule to arrive Oct. 13.
The shuttle will be on display at the science center's new Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion starting Oct. 30.
A press release from NASA says:
Endeavour was the final space shuttle built, and was constructed from orbiter vehicle structural spare parts as a replacement for space shuttle Challenger. It completed 25 missions between 1992 and 2011, spending 299 days in orbit and orbiting Earth 4,671 times while traveling 122,883,151 miles. It was named after the British sailing ship HMS Endeavour, which Captain James Cook sailed on his first voyage of discovery.
Social media users are encouraged to share their Endeavour sightings using the hashtags #spottheshuttle and #OV105, Endeavour’s orbiter vehicle designation.
Are you planning to see it? Share your pictures of Endeavour with us at altadenablog@gmail.com.
NASA TV will provide live coverage after 11 AM here.
Official NASA Flickr feed here.
Members of the public have a Flickr feed here.
UPDATE 10:30 AM: we're in Sacramento for the day -- about 10 AM, the pilot of our flight pointed out Endeavour heading southbound, so we can at least say we saw it!
