Shuttle inches toward retirement home at LA museum

The space shuttle Endeavour is slowly moved down Crenshaw Blvd., Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012, in Los Angeles. The shuttle is on its last mission — a 12-mile creep through city streets. It will move past an eclectic mix of strip malls, mom-and-pop shops, tidy lawns and faded apartment buildings. Its final destination: California Science Center in South Los Angeles where it will be put on display. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

By ALICIA CHANG

AP Science Writer / October 14, 2012

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It’s no longer shiny and sleek, like when it first rolled off the assembly line in the Mojave Desert in 1991 to replace the lost Challenger. As it cruised block-by-block, it’s hard to miss what 123 million miles in space and two dozen re-entries can do to the exterior.

Shuffling Endeavour through city streets was a laborious undertaking — nearly a year in the making. It could not be taken apart without damaging the delicate tiles. Airlifting it was out of the question. So was driving on freeways since it was too massive to fit through underpasses.

There were consequences. Several hundred Inglewood residents suffered hours-long outages when power lines were temporarily snipped. Some businesses lost customers because of street and sidewalk closures.

Such a move is not cheap. The cross-town transport was estimated at $10 million, to be paid for by the science center and private donations.

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Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

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Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia