(From left) Commander Mark Kelly and Pilot Gregory Johnson at the EndeavorLA launch, (Makena Hudson)

The science center was awareded to house the retired spacecraft after its titles were transferred on October 11th. 

Attendants of the launch of the fundraising effort, EndeavourLA, were greeted by a host of Science Center officials, politicians, and an aisle full of bottle rockets launched by the students of the collaborative Science Center School. NASA’s decision as to where the orbiter would be displayed was made in April, but it took six months for the honor to be actualized. 

Four of the crew of the Endeavour's last launch, astronauts Gregory Johnson, Michael Fincke and Andrew Feustel, as well as Commander Mark Kelly, attended the event. “I’m sure you’re going to do a great job with the Endeavour,” said Kelly, “please don’t scratch it.”

The orbiter and the new Air and Space Center wing it will be housed in is expected to increase the number of yearly visitors to 2 million, a significant exposure for the Endeavour, which was one of the reasons NASA was compelled to choose the Science Center the first place. The astronauts and science museum affiliates alike expressed their desires for the wonder of the Endeavour to be shared.

“We’re hoping for a new mission for Endeavour, but in this mission, it will be inspiring,” said Pilot Gregory Johnson.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa agreed, hoping that several hundred thousand of the yearly visitors would be kids who might then be inspired to become scientists and engineers to envision and carry out the next space program. To keep the project going, however, some of those future visitors, (such as those kids’ parents), will need to be inspired to make donations.

The ceremony marked the beginning of not only the EndeavourLA fundraising campaign, but also the Team Endeavour Tile Sponsorship program. The first function of EndeavourLA is to bring the orbiter to the Science Center, which will include it’s preparation for display, a ride atop a Boeing 747, three circles of the city of Los Angeles, (followed by, as Villaraigosa put it, “the mother or all parades”), and the construction of temporary housing. So far, nearly $15 million of the $29 million needed for the initial movement has been raised.

The combined costs of permanently displaying the shuttle total about $200 million.

Jeffrey Rudolph, President of The Science Center, announced the Tile Sponsorship program would help fund the construction of the new wing to house the massive acquisition. Donors can sponsor a tile of the orbiter’s thermal protection system, (the lowest donation level starts at $1,000), and have their names displayed as part of a digital representation of the spacecraft.

Villaraigosa also noted that the funding for the Endeavour's transport and eventual permanent display would be supported in part by public funding. He acknowledged Secretary of State and Consumer Services Anna Caballero, (representing Governor Jerry Brown), and Inglewood Mayor James Butts, before commencing his speech. He later joked about their introductions, saying “we’re not only going to raise the money for [the orbiter’s move], we’re going to raise the $200 million, and that’s why I introduced these wonderful senators and assembly members here… The state’s going to participate, once we get out of this crisis of course.”

This massive fundraising effort is an endeavor that even Houston may be wary of undertaking.

Rudolph said he was “thrilled that Endeavour will inspire many generations of future explorers,” explorers who might one day repay the state of California for the investment it’s making now with innovation.