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Endeavour, Photo by Krenda
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Space is an exciting subject for kids, opening up the imagination and wonder. To make it more real, take your kids to see a retired space shuttle. We visited the California Space Center in Los Angeles California to see the Endeavor space shuttle. It had quite the media attention when flown from Florida to California and then moved through the streets of Los Angeles with 1.5 million spectators. If you are too young to recall the news, you can see video at the museum. Imagine the preparation to move a 78 foot wide, 57 food high, and 122 foot long shuttle. When you enter the Samuel Oschin Pavilion on the property, the numbers become real and you feel awe at the size and mission. I found it really cool to walk underneath and be so close. Close enough to touch, but you can't touch. Just take photos and listen to the stories of volunteers. The volunteers were so kind to answer my curious kids numerous questions.
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California Space Station
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Endeavor sounds like an inspirational name coming from the dictionary, using the meaning "try hard to do or achieve something" or "an attempt to achieve a goal". From research, I was surprised that the name actually came from a contest won by school children. The contest required the name to come from an exploratory or research vessel. Endeavor name came from a ship chartered to explore the South Pacific. Explorer James Cook and crew had sailed to observe the transit of Venus at Tahiti.
The government authorized Endeavor's construction, the fifth Space Shuttle orbiter, as a replacement for Challenger in 1987. It served from 1992 to 2011, completing 25 missions and spending 299 days in space. Endeavor made the first service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and also worked on the International Space Station.With the arrival to the California Space Center and the restoration on the External Tank (ET), the center will be the only place in the world where you can see a complete shuttle stack - orbiter, external tank (like the "gas tank"), and solid rocket boosters with all real flight hardware in launch configuration. When visiting the museum, plan for plenty of time to see the multiple exhibits.
The museum's main building also recognizes other firsts. It has a full-scale engineering model of Casseni spacecraft and Huygens probes, teaching about the first spacecraft ever to orbit Saturn. A full-scale engineering model of the Viking Lander is on display, celebrating the first U.S. spaceship ever to land on Mars. You'll see the Wright Glider replica, recognizing the first successful heavier-than-air powered aircraft.
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Giant Kelp Forest
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This museum has more than transportation science exhibits. Check out their ecosystems extreme zones including the giant kelp forest in a 188,000 gallon tank with sharks, eels, fish and a diver twice a day answering audience questions. You can also purchase tickets for an IMAX movie.
Unfortunately the Challenger and Columbia space shuttles were completely destroyed during missions. However, you can visit three other retired space shuttles:
1. Space Shuttle Enterprise (1977-2012) - Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum - New York $33
2. Discovery (1984 -2011) - National Air and Space Museum, free
3. Atlantis (1985-2011) - Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Cape Canaveral, Florida $57
