The original full-size prototype design for the space shuttle will travel on a Downey street Thursday to its new temporary home.
It looks like it could fly with its now-familiar design, but this model that never left Earth was built in 1972 as part of Rockwell International’s successful bid to build NASA’s shuttles. The mock-up is moving to a renovation center to ready it for display in a new exhibit hall at the Columbia Memorial Space Center.
At 122-feet long and 35-feet tall, the shuttle model — affectionately given the name “Inspiration” in 2012 — will be slowly maneuvered on streets Thursday morning for about three city blocks. The model will be transported in seven pieces on specialized moving equipment, which could be seen early Thursday from NewsChopper4 at a city maintenance yard.
The main pieces will move Thursday from the maintenance yard on Bellflower Boulevard to the renovation center on the same street. Small pieces will be moved Friday.
Residents were invited to line the street to watch the move.
The move comes about 10 years after Inspiration was taken apart and stored as planners figured out how it could be on permanent display. The city of Downey approved plans earlier this year for the new 20,000-square-foot exhibit hall at the Columbia Memorial Space Center. The center will include the shuttle model and other exhibits.
As a full-scale model, the mock- up was later used as a fitting tool for instruments and payloads that were being planned for the actual NASA shuttles. The space center is also embarking on a $50 million fundraising campaign to help cover the costs of construction of the new facility, along with the specialized exhibits and science-education programs.
