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Endeavour's last lap

Sep 21st 2012, 15:33

NASA's shuttle carrier aircraft lands with the space shuttle Endeavour at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Thursday, September 20. Endeavour is scheduled to make its final flight on Friday to Los Angeles, where the now-retired spacecraft will be displayed.

Military personnel look at Endeavour atop the modified Boeing 747 at Edwards Air Force Base on Thursday. Endeavour, along with space shuttles Discovery, Enterprise and Atlantis, became a museum piece after NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program in July 2011.

An F-16 fighter jet is seen in the foreground as Endeavour makes a flyby Thursday before landing at Edwards Air Force Base.

Students and faculty at the University of Arizona watch as Endeavour flies over the campus in Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday. Endeavour reportedly flew over Tucson to honor former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who commanded Endeavour's final mission to space in May 2011.

Space shuttle Endeavour is ferried by NASA's shuttle carrier aircraft as it flies over Houston on Wednesday, September 19. After a two-day delay due to unfavorable weather, Endeavour began its flight to Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Space shuttle Endeavour flies over the Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday morning.

Endeavour is flown over the pier in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on Wednesday.

The space shuttle Endeavour is transported from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday.

Perched atop a modified Boeing 747, Endeavour departs Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:22 Wednesday morning.

Spectators watch as Endeavour is carried over Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi, on Wednesday.

Jorgen and Ruth Sabinsky watch the flyover of Endeavour in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on Wednesday.

Spectators wait for Endeavour to fly over Hancock County, Mississippi, on Wednesday.

Workers pose for a photograph on the wing of NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft Wednesday, with the space shuttle Endeavour perched on top.

Wednesday's leg took Endeavour to Houston, Texas, with flyovers along Florida's Space Coast, Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

Space shuttle Endeavour is seen atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center on Monday, September 17, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

NASA delays Endeavour's Friday California flight tour to avoid fog
NASA plans some low-altitude flyovers so people can get a good look Friday
Former shuttle commander Mark Kelly, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords saw flyover Thursday
The retired shuttle is headed toward a museum in Los Angeles

Share photos of shuttle Endeavour as it flies from Florida to California.

(CNN) -- Endeavour will do flyovers Friday of Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco atop a modified jumbo jet -- weather permitting -- then land back at Los Angeles International Airport to end its three-day journey to its retirement home.

Good visibility is key, since the purpose of the flight up the state of California and back is to show off Endeavour to the American public from the sky, and NASA encourages onlookers to share their sightings of the airborne spectacle on social media.

NASA delayed Friday's takeoff by an hour to 8:15 a.m. PDT "to increase the probability that fog over the San Francisco area will dissipate before the flyover," according to the space agency's website.

Touring space shuttle Endeavour

Space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, goes by the Washington Monument during a flyover of the nation's capital on its trip to retirement Tuesday, April 17. The flight -- the last time Discovery will be aloft -- took it from Florida's Kennedy Space Center to the Washington area, where it will spend retirement as a museum piece at an annex to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, near Dulles International Airport.

Discovery and its 747 jumbo jet carrier pass over the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Chantilly, Virginia, on Tuesday. The shuttle will be removed from the modified jet and star as the guest of honor at a four-day celebration punctuated by a ceremony Thursday formally welcoming Discovery to the Smithsonian collection.

The 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, carrying Discovery, prepares to land at Washington Dulles International Airport on Tuesday in Chantilly, Virginia.

Discovery flies over the National Mall on Tuesday as it arrives from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The space shuttle Enterprise, which has been on display at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center since 1985, will be moved to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.

Schoolchildren on a tour watch as Discovery flies over the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

Discovery makes a low pass over the Washington, D.C., area before its final landing Tuesday.

An aspiring astronaut poses in the parking lot of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Tuesday in Chantilly.

Discovery flies over the National Mall before being retired at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

People gather to watch the arrival of Discovery at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Tuesday in Chantilly.

iReporter Jon Rosiska took this shot at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday.

Shuttle Discovery flies past the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.

Special guests watch the Discovery's arrival from the observation deck of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Tuesday in Chantilly.

Shuttle Discovery lands at Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly.

Spectators watch as Discovery passes over the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Tuesday.

Alvin Drew, left, Nicole Stott, Mike Barratt, Steve Bowen, Eric Boe and Steve Lindsey of STS-133, Discovery's last crew, pose for a photo at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday, April 16.

Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement

Photos: Discovery flies into retirement

Endeavour shuttle piggybacks 747

A barge carries the Space Shuttle Enterprise past the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on Wednesday, June 6. The shuttle is on its way to the USS Intrepid Museum, where it will be on display aboard the former aircraft carrier.

Boats surround the Enterprise as it makes its way up the Hudson River. The shuttle was flown into JFK on the back of a 747 on April 27.

The Enterprise is seen from a busy New York street as it is carried up the river Wednesday.

The final leg of the shuttle's journey to the USS Intrepid Museum was scheduled for Tuesday but delayed because of bad weather.

The shuttle passes by the New York skyline on Wednesday.

The Enterprise will be hoisted by crane onto the flight deck of the Intrepid.

NASA's space shuttle program ended last year, 30 years after it began. The Enterprise was never launched into space.

Enterprise floats head-on toward the Intrepid Sea.

A giant crane carefully swings the Enterprise from the barge that transported it down the Hudson River toward the Intrepid.

The Enterprise is carefully lowered onto the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, its final resting place.

Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple

Photos: Enterprise in the Big Apple

After its day trip is done, the orbiter will be removed from its perch atop the Boeing 747 that has carried it cross-country from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Its final destination is the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will go on display for posterity.

NASA said the shuttle will be moved via roads on October 12-13 to its final spot at the science museum.

On Thursday, it flew low over Tucson, Arizona, where Mark Kelly, who was the commander on the last Endeavour mission, watched with his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, before touching down at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

"The space shuttle is really a testament to American engineering and ingenuity," he told CNN affiliate KOLD. "It is the most amazing spacecraft ever built, by far."

His wife had watched the launch of his mission but missed the landing, so it was great for her to see the shuttle in the air, he added.

Endeavour, along with Discovery, Enterprise and Atlantis, became a museum piece after NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program in July 2011.

Two other shuttles -- Challenger and Columbia -- were destroyed in accidents that killed all aboard. Challenger exploded shortly after launch in 1986, and Columbia broke apart upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in 2003.

Watch: Trees removed to make way for Endeavour

Endeavour's three-day piggyback flight was divided into three legs that could be described as scenic routes to showcase the shuttle to the public from coast to coast.

Social media users have shared Endeavour sightings via the hashtags #spottheshuttle and #OV105, the later being Endeavour's "vehicle designation."

Wednesday's leg took Endeavour to Houston, with flyovers along Florida's Space Coast, Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

As Endeavour bid farewell to Kennedy Space Center, it elicited strong emotions from people -- such as CNN iReporter Randy Lathrop of Cocoa, Florida -- who have lived with the shuttle program nearby for decades.

"It's the last time that she'll ever be at her home base again. It strikes a chord of nostalgia in you because she's done so many flights from the space center. This is her home," Lathrop said.

A short history of Endeavour

Named for the first ship commanded by British explorer James Cook, Endeavour rolled out of an assembly plant in Palmdale, California, in 1991 at a cost of $1.7 billion. It was the baby of the shuttle fleet, built as a replacement for Challenger.

Over the next 20 years, Endeavour flew some of the most high-profile shuttle missions, covering 25 flights and nearly 123 million miles. It flew a Spacelab mission and numerous International Space Station assembly missions and rendezvoused with Russia's Mir Space Station.

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