Huge Inspiration space shuttle mock-up will be making a move through Downey streets
Excerpt: The more than 120-foot-long Inspiration space shuttle mock-up will be taking a short tour through Downey on Thursday and Friday.
The full-scale model, which has been sitting in storage for more than a decade, will move down three blocks in sections from a city maintenance yard to its new temporary home. The two-day project is part of a major expansion of the Columbia Memorial Space Center, which opened 15 years ago as the official national memorial for the Columbia space shuttle crew who died in the 2003 disaster.
People are invited to celebrate its journey across Bellflower Boulevard, and the museum will be hosting a livestream for those who can’t make it in person.
Ben Dickow, president and executive director of the space center, told LAist the shuttle is a major part of aerospace history that also represents the future of exploration.
“We really see it as a catalyst for inspiring people, young people and adults, to keep furthering the progress of innovation and science and technology in Southern California,” he said.