Grand Opening Ceremony Welcomes Endeavour
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Inglewood Mayor James Butts and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden spoke before an invite-only audience.
Several astronauts, including James M. Kelly and R. Shane Kimbrough were in attendance. Retired astronauts Barbara Morgan, John D. "Danny" Olivas and Garrett Reisman were also at the ceremony.
Attendees peeked inside the Endeavour exhibition that is composed of two galleries: "Endeavour: The California Story" and "Space Shuttle Endeavour in the Samuel Oschin Pavilion."
At 10:30 a.m., the doors to the exhibition opened for 500 Science Center School students.
The space shuttle is currently on display in the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion while its permanent home is being constructed and is expected to open in 2017. The 18,000-square-foot temporary pavilion enables visitors to see one of the shuttle's main engines and the 122-foot long orbiter.
Visitors will walk through an exhibit of California's aerospsace and shuttle program featuring videos, photos and artifacts before arriving at Endeavor.
The California Science Center is encouraging visitors to reserve times through its website to view the shuttle, as large crowds are expected to flock to the exhibition.
In late September, the space shuttle flew into LAX ontop a modified Boeing 747 and then traveled 11 miles to the California Science Center. The journey attracted an estimated 1 million spectators.
Endeavor replaced space shuttle Challenger, which exploded Jan. 28, 1986. Endeavor orbited Earth 4,671 times throughout its 25 missions and spent 296 days in space.
