Space Shuttle

Staff in The Times' downtown Los Angeles office had a prime viewing spot as the space shuttle Endeavour flew over Southern California for the last time. Other staff were around the region to report on the shuttle's final journey . Some of their comments from the historic flyby ... [ View the story "Times staff plays #SpottheShuttle" on Storify ]   readers.representative@latimes.com Follow the Readers' Rep on Twitter and Google+  

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown Friday signed legislation designed to boost the development of commercial space flight in California. He approved AB 2243 just prior to the space shuttle Endeavor and its mother ship flying over Sacramento. Here's the link to a blog post on the Los Angeles Times' PolitiCal website.  

Well, they were no Mercury or Apollo missions, but that's the point. The space shuttles were supposed to make the dramatic and heroic single-warrior space mission into something routine, to make it possible for humans to inhabit space with as much regularity and comfort as they might have on a camping trip, if you could go camping in zero gravity. After a victory lap over California on Friday, Endeavour comes to its new L.A. home ferried by piggyback, the way the shuttles used to be delivered from their landing places back to their home base in Florida.

The space shuttle Endeavour arrived in Los Angeles on Friday, flying atop a modified 747 over landmarks such as Disneyland, the Getty Center and the Griffith Observatory before landing at Los Angeles International Airport. But that's nothing compared with previous shuttle missions, such as saving planet Earth from a doomsday asteroid. The latter, of course, refers to the shuttles deployed in the 1998 film "Armageddon," starring Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. And it only hints at the history of the spacecraft's use in movies, which actually predates the first launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981.

The space shuttle Endeavour circled Earth 4,671 times in its 25 missions to space. But its final loop on Friday will present something somewhat alien to the spacecraft: the Los Angeles commuter. Perched atop a modified Boeing 747, the orbiter will circle Southern California on Friday morning before landing at Los Angeles International Airport midday. The shuttle will fly 1,500 feet over several area landmarks, including the Getty Center, Griffith Observatory and Universal Studios.

The California Science Center received final approval Monday to chop down 265 trees to make room for the space shuttle Endeavour as it rolls through the streets of Los Angeles. To garner residents' support, the center sweetened the deal at the last minute and agreed to replant four times as many trees, repair additional sidewalks, and offer scholarships and job training. "While we sincerely regret the loss of many majestic trees which have aided this community for decades, what we accomplished through this agreement is a greener South L.A. for the health of our community, as well as educational opportunities at the Science Center for generations to come," said a statement released through the Neighborhood Council groups' attorney, Gideon Kracov.

It wouldn't be a trip to Southern California without a visit to Disneyland. The Anaheim park is one of several Los Angeles-area landmarks that space shuttle Endeavour will fly over before landing Friday morning at Los Angeles International Airport, according to NASA. Also on deck: the Getty Center, Griffith Observatory and the California Science Center, the retired orbiter's new permanent home. The Los Angeles flyover will mark the end of Endeavour's farewell aerial tour which is slated to begin at dawn Wednesday when it departs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

One leg of the space shuttle Endeavour's final journey has been delayed because of bad weather, but the craft will still arrive in Los Angeles on schedule Thursday, NASA announced Sunday. Endeavour was to travel from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to Houston on Monday but the flight was pushed back one day because of storms. Despite the delay, the shuttle -- mounted on a Boeing 747 aircraft -- will still do low-level flyovers in Florida, Texas, New Mexico and Northern and Southern California before touching down in L.A. After arriving, Endeavour will spend several weeks in the United Airlines hangar at Los Angeles International Airport undergoing preparations for a two-day, 12-mile journey on Oct. 12 and 13 via surface streets to the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

NASA has delayed the space shuttle Endeavour's departure for Los Angeles by 24 hours because of a threat of stormy weather along its flight path, officials announced Sunday. Endeavour, which is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles on Thursday, will now take off around sunrise Tuesday. It will still arrive in L.A. on schedule - its pit stop in Houston will be shortened to a day. Once it arrives, it will be driven through the streets of Los Angeles to its final destination, the California Science Center.