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Endeavour starts its new life as a museum exhibit (PHOTOS)
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Sasha Tibelius, 4, holds a model rocket during the grand opening of the Space Shuttle Endeavour Exhibition at the California Science Center.
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Anibal Ortiz / KPCC
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Hundreds of schoolkids attended the grand opening of the Endeavour exhibit.
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Anibal Ortiz / KPCC
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The shuttle towers over the crowd at its grand opening.
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Anibal Ortiz / KPCC
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Daniel Adamski, director and program manager at Pratt& Whitney Rocketdyne, tells children about Endeavour's engine.
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Anibal Ortiz / KPCC
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Watching an exhibit about Endeavour.
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Anibal Ortiz / KPCC
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Bill Nye the Science Guy signs autographs.
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Anibal Ortiz / KPCC
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Learning about the shuttle.
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Anibal Ortiz / KPCC
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After a cross-country trip strapped on top of a 747, and a cross-town trip towed through the streets of Los Angeles, the space shuttle Endeavour has begun its new life as a museum piece. The Endeavour exhibit at the California Science Center opened to the public Tuesday.
Hundreds of schoolkids attended the grand opening. They sat under one of the shuttle's wings as Gov. Jerry Brown, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Inglewood Mayor James Butts, and other dignitaries celebrated the moment.
Arturo Alvarez, an 8th grader at Audubon Middle School, take his eyes off of the shuttle.
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“It’s kind of awesome to see actually the Endeavour right here up close because I always see it on TV but I never could get to see it up close," he said.
Alvarez joined his classmates and hundreds of kids from other schools at the opening. They asked NASA astronauts – some who flew with Endeavour – plenty of questions. They walked underneath and around the shuttle, and marveled over interactive exhibits and artifacts, such as Endeavour’s tires, toilet, fuel cells, and galley.
“I saw grown men, jumping up in the air like they were 4th graders," said Villaraigosa. " I saw people crying as that shuttle was coming. I was told by some teachers that as the shuttle was flying over the sky that kids walked in the school yard and when they came back in they said, ‘I want to be an engineer.'”
The museum has launched a $200 million fundraising campaign to pay for the construction of a permanent home for the shuttle. The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is due to open in about five years.
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