For the first time in 12 years, 3 months and 21 days, the stacking of a NASA space shuttle has begun again.
On Thursday (July 20), the aft skirts for two solid rocket boosters were moved into place. This time though, the preparations were not for a launch into Earth orbit, and it occurred far away from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in Florida.
Instead, a truck-mounted crane hoisted the 7.5-foot-tall by 18-foot-wide (2.3 by 5.5 meter) aft skirts, one by one, from where they had been parked outside of the California Science Center in Los Angeles into the adjacent construction site where the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will stand. Over the next six months, the skirts will serve as a foundation for the rest of the space shuttle to be assembled, concluding with the mating of the winged orbiter Endeavour.
"Today, with the installation of the two aft skirts, we commence 'Go for Stack,' the complex process of moving and lifting each of the space shuttle components into place for Endeavour's upcoming, inspiring 20-story vertical display," said Jeffrey Rudolph, president and chief executive officer of the California Science Center. "This is the first step in the six-month process of creating the world's only authentic ready-to-launch space shuttle stack in the Samuel Ocean Air and Space Center."
Related: Where are NASA's space shuttles now?
