NASA DFRC / Jim Ross

Endeavour: Retirement Update... Two days ago, the twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) that were originally on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) in California. For the next few years, the SRBs will be in temporary storage at Edwards AFB while the California Science Center (CSC) constructs the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center...a new museum wing that will permanently house the decommissioned orbiter Endeavour. Once the new Air and Space Center is completed, the SRBs will be transported to downtown Los Angeles to be displayed next to Endeavour. In fact, the CSC will combine the orbiter with the SRBs in vertical position (the external fuel tank that Endeavour will actually be attached to will be a replica), to simulate the launch configuration that Endeavour enjoyed for 25 flights before her retirement last year.

About three weeks remain before the shuttle embarks on her cross-country ferry flight to Southern California. Endeavour will arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on September 20, and be transported (during a parade through the streets of L.A.) to CSC's Samuel Oschin Pavilion, the orbiter's temporary home, on October 13. Endeavour will then officially open to the public on October 30.

One last thing I need to say is, the giant SRBs parading through the streets of Los Angeles towards their destination at CSC will definitely be a sight to see in person!


NASA DFRC / Jim Ross


NASA DFRC / Jim Ross

NASA

Orion Update... While the world continues to honor Neil Armstrong after he passed away last Saturday, NASA continues to make progress on the spacecraft that will hopefully allow a new generation of explorers follow in the footsteps of Armstrong and his fellow Apollo astronauts within the next decade or so. Here are photos from yesterday's successful Orion parachute drop test, which once again took place above the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds in southwestern Arizona:


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NASA / Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.

Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)... Thank you, Mr. Armstrong, for making that giant leap for mankind 43 years ago. The former test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor and Gemini 8 and Apollo 11 astronaut passed away today at the age of 82. May Armstrong Rest In Peace.


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NASA / Neil A. Armstrong


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NASA / Frankie Martin

The Final Shuttle Swap... Earlier today, Endeavour and Atlantis switched places—for the last time—inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-2 at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Endeavour is about a month away from being towed from the VAB to the Shuttle Landing Facility to begin her cross-country ferry flight to Southern California. And finishing touches will be made to Atlantis inside OPF-2 as her decommissioning process comes to an end, and Atlantis herself becomes a space artifact at the nearby KSC Visitor Complex. As mentioned in last Friday's journal entry, Atlantis' transport down the street to the Visitor Complex will take place on November 2. After that, KSC proper will finally find itself bereft of the historic orbiters that called Spaceport USA their home for more than 30 years. It is after Atlantis' departure from KSC that the presence of the Orion EFT-1 vehicle a few miles down the street at the KSC Industrial Complex (inside the Operations and Checkout Facility, to be exact) takes on more meaning. A new era of manned spaceflight for NASA will soon begin.


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis

NASA / Jim Grossmann

Photos of the Day... Now that Endeavour has pretty much completed final decommissioning activities at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, the orbiter will be transported from KSC's Orbiter Processing Facility-2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building on August 16 for temporary storage...prior to her being rolled out to the Shuttle Landing Facility next month to undergo final preps for her ferry flight to Los Angeles on September 17. Endeavour will then arrive at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) a few days later on September 20, and will briefly reside in a United Airlines hangar at LAX before she embarks on a 12-mile-long 'parade' through the streets of L.A. (mostly in the City of Inglewood) between October 12 and 13. Endeavour will arrive at the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion at the California Science Center on the evening of October 13—and will open to the public for the first time on October 30th.


California Science Center

A few days after Endeavour officially becomes available for viewing at the California Science Center, Atlantis will be rolled over to her final home at KSC's Visitor Complex on November 2. The second oldest orbiter in NASA's retired shuttle fleet will then open to the public next July.


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann


NASA / Jim Grossmann


Gene Blevins / LA Daily News

The DragonRider in Pasadena... Yesterday, I attended Planetfest 2012 at the Pasadena Convention Center to watch a live NASA TV broadcast (with around 2,000 people in attendance inside the auditorium) of the Curiosity rover safely landing on Mars. Needless to say, the event was memorable—not just because a new U.S.-built spacecraft is now on the surface of the Red Planet, but also because the flight engineering model of SpaceX's crewed version of the Dragon capsule was on display outside of the convention center. The symbolism of the replica's presence at Planetfest should not be lost on anyone... Although NASA is making strides developing the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and the Space Launch System that will hurl Orion into deep space, it is not far-fetched to think that the DragonRider could also be responsible for sending Mars-bound astronauts to low-Earth orbit first (to rendezvous with the vehicle that will take the crew to Earth's rust-colored planetary neighbor). Of course, if SpaceX's plan for the so-called Red Dragon robotic Mars mission is any indication, it's not so inconceivable to ponder that the DragonRider will find itself orbiting hundreds of miles above the Red Planet as well. That would be awesome.