Endeavour Rocket Boosters Arrive in SoCal
The 140-feet long boosters travelled from Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Craig Fiegener
Two rocket boosters from the retired Endeavor space shuttle on Friday finished their 2,500-mile road trip from Florida to Palmdale, where they will be stored until the Science Center finishes building the Endeavor exhibit. Craig Fiegener reports from Banning for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Aug. 24, 2012.
Two solid rocket boosters that propelled the Endeavour space shuttle toward its 1993 mission crawled along the 10 Freeway in Riverside County Friday. They are each about 140 feet long, and nearly 14 feet in diameter.
The booster rockets – about 140 feet long and nearly 14 feet in diameter – are nearing the end of their 2,500 mile road trip from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to their temporary resting stop in Palmdale near Edwards Air Force Base.
The retired Endeavour is expected to be flown to LAX in September and then be transported through city streets to its final destination at the California Science Center at Exposition Park. The booster rockets will be reunited with Endeavour when the Science Center wing for the shuttle is complete.
The rocket boosters turned heads on the freeway as they traveled at speeds ranging from 40 to 60 mph.
“It’s been a bit of history every time we stop. Camera phones out the windows as they go by,” said lead driver Vaughn Goodfellow.
The solid rocket boosters launched the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its 1993 mission; holding more than 1 million pounds of fuel and providing two minutes of powered flight before they separated from the shuttle and splashed down in the ocean.
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