Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center Opens November 13 in Los Angeles With Endeavour in Launch Position
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, the expansion of the California Science Center, opens to the public on November 13, 2026, at 10 a.m. in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. The Science Center says the opening will feature a ribbon-cutting and some 30 astronauts, including all six crew members of STS-134, Endeavour's final mission, which was commanded by now-Senator Mark Kelly.
The 200,000-square-foot center nearly doubles the Science Center's exhibit space. Its centerpiece is the world's only complete, authentic space shuttle system displayed in launch configuration: a flown orbiter mated to two solid rocket boosters and the ET-94 external tank, standing 20 stories tall in a gallery roughly 200 feet high. The center holds 100 artifacts and 100 new hands-on exhibits.
Three galleries anchor the center: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery; the Korean Air Aviation Gallery, featuring the 70-foot forward fuselage of a Korean Air Boeing 747 and a five-minute film flying from Los Angeles to Seoul; and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery, built with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and displaying the Mercury-Redstone 2, Gemini 11 and Apollo-Soyuz capsules. Interactives include a 140-foot Launch Tower elevator with a glass platform, a 45-foot Shuttle Descent Slide, a replica flight deck and an Orbiter Landing Simulator.
On opening weekend, November 13-15, astronaut and JPL scientist talks run every 30 minutes until 5 p.m., with no reservation needed for the talks; the photo exhibit "Endeavour's Long Journey" premieres the same day, and four IMAX films open with the center.
General admission to the Science Center is free; timed reservations carry a $4 service fee, waived for members, and the center warns that entry may be unavailable without an advance reservation. The Science Center is at 700 Exposition Park Drive, Los Angeles, open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The project has raised more than $415 million toward a $450 million goal and completes the final phase of the center's three-decade master plan. Endeavour flew 25 missions between 1992 and 2011. (Source: California Science Center)
Source: California Science Center
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：奋进号航天飞机在加州科学中心展出时的实景（资料图），Andrew Adams 摄，CC BY-SA，Wikimedia Commons
