The long-awaited $450 million Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center will officially open its doors on Nov. 13, giving visitors a chance to get up close to — and make first contact with — one of NASA’s most iconic spacecrafts.

The massive 200,000-square-foot expansion will become the permanent home of the retired Space Shuttle Endeavour, exhibited in its upright “ready to launch” position.

Unlike typical museum setups where historic artifacts operate on a strict “look but don’t touch” basis, the new buildout is designed to bring visitors closer to cosmic history than ever before. Split into three galleries spanning four floors — air, space, and shuttle — the center will allow guests to marvel at authentic space artifacts and get unprecedented, multi-angle views of the legendary spacecraft.

Designers say one of the most uniquely notable aspects of the new exhibit is just how close visitors can get to the orbiter. “I don’t think any of the other space shuttles that are on display, can you actually walk up and touch part of them,” Jack Pascarosa, AIA, partner and director of exhibition design and management at Evidence Design, told Secret Los Angeles. “I think that’s incredibly special.”

Once complete, people will be able to see Endeavour exactly as it appeared on the launch pad before liftoff: in its 20-story vertical launch position, mounted with its rocket boosters and bright orange ET-94, the last remaining external fuel tank.

Known as the baby shuttle, Endeavour replaced Challenger, which exploded during liftoff in 1986. Endeavour spent 299 days in space, orbited Earth 4,671 times and traveled 122,883,151 miles, completing 25 missions to space between 1992 and 2011. The shuttle landed at LAX in 2012 and embarked on an unforgettable 12-mile journey through the city streets to its new home at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

The shuttle arrived to LA on a 747 jumbo jet and was put on a special flatbed trailer for a weeks long road trip to its final destination.

The new center will also have 100 aerospace artifacts and 100 interactive exhibits. “All of the other exhibits kind of wrap around this one, but this is kind of the culmination because it represents that kind of pinnacle of achievement that all these other efforts were leading to over a long period of time,” Pascarosa said.

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