Space shuttle fuel tank completes journey across Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES -- A huge fuel tank from the Space Shuttle program completed an unusual odyssey in Los Angeles Saturday night.
Crews cut no corners in relocating a massive space shuttle fuel tank -- the size of half a football field -- across 16-miles of Los Angeles.
Onlookers took selfies and watched from rooftops as the enormous tank rolled by.
It took months to choreograph the move. Police closed streets, public works altered traffic lights and utility wires to make way for the 66,000 pound tank, as it skirted by trees, traveling at just 5 mph.
"I can't wait to see it stacked in vertical in the museum," said Astronaut Charlie Precourt. "It's going to blow people away."
The fuel tank was shipped from New Orleans to California through the Panama Canal. It will eventually be displayed inside the California Science Center in full launch position, attached to two rocket boosters, and the space shuttle Endeavour, which hitched a ride to Los Angeles on top of a Boeing 747 in 2012.
The tank, known as ET-94, was built to propel Endeavour into space, but NASA phased out the shuttle program before it could launch.
Astronaut Kay Hire flew on Endeavour and hopes seeing this will inspire young minds.
"Think about taking us beyond where we have been in space exploration and taking the next step -- back to the moon, on to Mars," she said.
ET-94 will be assembled for display with Endeavour by 2019.