Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-2) prepares for an unpowered but smooth landing on the desert area of Edwards Air Force Base in California in 1981. NASA. Planetary scientist and pilot Tom Jones had a ...

A nearly month-long mission is ready to lift off, with preparations being made at the Kennedy Center. To be clear, not NASA's Kennedy Space Center, but the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

After test glide and landings upon release from aircraft in 1977, the Space Shuttle began orbital flights in April 1981. The shuttle would launch 135 times from Florida — but only 133 would land ...

To get ready for Endeavour's grand move, crews will begin installation of the base of the shuttle's full stack on July 20 at the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.

Once complete — and the rest of the museum is constructed in the coming years — L.A. will be home to the only retired space shuttle displayed in a full-stack arrangement as if ready for launch.

The space shuttle Endeavour will move into a vertical position at a California museum, complete with solid rocket boosters and fuel tank. Here's what the $400 million project entails.

Space Shuttle Endeavour Lifted Into Launch Position at California Science Center. A 450-foot crane lifted the 170,000-pound orbiter into the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in downtown Los Angeles.