Space Shuttle Endeavour Heads West To New Mission
CAPE CANAVERAL (CBSMiami/AP) -- The Space Shuttle Endeavour began its final journey on Wednesday. It's heading west to its new life as a museum piece in California. On the last ferry flight of its kind, bolted to the top of a jumbo jet, NASA's youngest shuttle departed Kennedy Space Center at sunrise on the first leg of its flight to California.
Hundreds of people — astronauts, space center workers, tourists and journalists — gathered at the runway to bid Endeavour farewell following two days of rain delays. Crowds also lined the beaches of Cape Canaveral as the shuttle swooped low overhead in one final show.
Onlookers waved, saluted, applauded and cheered as Endeavour made one last swoop over its old landing strip, and then aimed for the Gulf of Mexico.
"I am feeling a tremendous amount of pride," said astronaut Kay Hire, who flew aboard Endeavour two years ago.
Endeavour will make it as far as Houston on Wednesday. That's home to Mission Control and all the astronauts.
The shuttle is due to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. In mid-October, it will be transported down city streets to the California Science Center.
If Endeavour couldn't remain anchored at the International Space Station, its main destination in recent years, then the science center is an ideal final stop, said astronaut Gregory Chamitoff. He grew up in California and flew to the space station on Endeavour's final trip to orbit.
This is the last flight for a space shuttle. Atlantis will remain at Kennedy for display. Discovery is already at the Smithsonian Institution, parked at a hangar in Virginia.
Endeavour flew 25 times in space before retiring last year. It logged 123 million miles in orbit and circled Earth more nearly 4,700 times.
(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
