Following a delay due to foggy weather on Friday, the space shuttle flyover eventually took off. The space shuttle route planned for Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, will be the final flight for Endeavour before its retirement to a museum.
After a successful landing at Edward Air Force Base in Los Angeles yesterday, space shuttle Endeavour took off on a final flight Friday to celebrate its many achievements in space aviation and its invaluable contributions to astronomy research.
At first, the flight was delayed due to fog which would have made it difficult to view the spacecraft, but as the fog dissipated the shuttle was given the green light to take off.
As the aged space shuttle makes low flyovers in parts of Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, people will remember its many space missions, in the end amounting to a total of 25.
Endeavour played a crucial role in servicing and maintaining the International Space Station with personnel and material, flying astronauts of many nationalities into space.
The shuttle is now bound for California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will be installed as a museum item.
On its way to the museum, the Endeavour will be paraded on roads around parts of downtown Los Angeles. That journey is planned next month between October 12-13. The city has made several adjustments to parks and roads to accommodate Endeavour's 78 feet (23 meter) wingspan, cutting down trees and removing signposts.
The Endeavour is named for the first ship commanded by British explorer James Cook, and its assembly was completed in 1991 at a cost of $1.7 billion, according to CNN. The shuttle was built as a replacement for the space shuttle Challenger that tragically exploded shortly after take-off in 1986, killing all crew.
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