L.A. Gets a Second Space Shuttle and You Can Join the Motorcade

It’s missing a wing and the tail is a little janky, but jaws are sure to drop when a giant space shuttle cruises the streets of Downey next week en route to its new home. The shuttle mockup Inspiration measures 35 by 122 feet and, while it never went to space, had an outsized impact on the space program and on Los Angeles history.

The idea of a reliable and reusable truck that could haul objects to orbit was around long before the first astronaut reached space. A 1959 proposal called for a vehicle that would be launched on a missile and glide back to earth. By 1972 engineers at Downey’s North American/Rockwell (later Lockheed/Boeing) plant were putting the finishing touches on an aluminum, plywood and plastic mockup of what a full-sized spacecraft might look like. “It was never meant to go into space,” says Ben Dickow, President and Executive Director of the Columbia Memorial Space Center. “It was a valuable tool in figuring out how to build the shuttle and see how things fit while still on the ground.”

A new $30 million pavilion next the Space Center will become the mockups new home, but for now it will reside in a temporary building at the museum. Visitors will be able to touch the giant ship, go inside its cargo bay and see artifacts like a flag that flew on the moon.

Inspiration spent years under wraps in a city yard after the ship’s birthplace was demolished in 2012. “It’s in really good shape. It’s been preserved under heavy materials,” says Dickow. “I haven’t unwrapped it yet, but I poked my head into the access panels underneath.”

The 52-year-old classic will slowly trundle through city streets on October 17, like its younger cousin Endeavour did in 2012, greeting fans, dodging trees, and saying hello to Randy’s Donuts as it traveled from LAX to the California Science Center. Inspiration and Endeavour , the oldest and youngest versions of the Space Shuttle, will now both reside in Los Angeles.

The Downey plant that built the craft employed some 35,000 workers at its peak and sprawled over 188 acres or roughly twice the size of Disneyland. Shuttles flew 135 missions between 1981 and 2011, when the program was retired.

A possible replacement is the Boeing Starliner , a reusable spacecraft most famous for getting astronauts stuck aboard the International Space Station. That vehicle was built with the experience gained at Downey. “Starliner is a scaled-up version of the Apollo capsule with the tile technology of the shuttle,” Dickow says. “They took the two things and smooshed them together.”

The Columbia Science Center is the national memorial to the astronauts who died in the 2003 disaster but it’s also a fun place for kids and a museum full of exhibits and artifacts from the history of the American space program.

On October 17, the streets will be full of curious onlookers, politicians, dignitaries, and scores of retired engineers who brought the program to life. Aerospace workers in their 80s and 90s flock to the museum for an annual reunion and maintain a community long after completing their work.

“It fulfilled its mission,” Dickow says of the orbiter. “To the point where the public stopped caring because space became a common thing. Congress controls the spending, and they like shiny things.”

Southern California has led the country in air and space innovation for more than a century. The first plane to go around the world , the Saturn V rockets and tens of thousands of the planes that won World War II were all built here.

Along the way, it will pass a Kaiser Hospital, a TJ Maxx, and the 24 Hour Fitness built on the original site. When the old hangars were demolished, Inspiration was moved to the city yard. “The public works guys have been asking for that to be gone for 10 years,” says Dickow. “So, they’re excited to get their parking spaces back.”

Thursday, October 17
Site opens at 8am, shuttle starts moving at 9am, speakers at 10am

Columbia Memorial Space Center
12400 Columbia Way, Downey, CA 90242
Bellflower Blvd. will be closed for the move between Imperial Highway and Washburn Road.