‘This is where it all happened.’ Downey’s space shuttle prototype begins move to future home
Excerpt: At slower than a walking pace, the prototype that helped launch America’s space shuttle program paraded down Downey streets Thursday morning on its way to a temporary housing location in preparation for a move to its final home.
Dozens of students who skipped classes waved and snapped selfies near the partially-covered wood and plastic model. The visible rear engine nozzles garnered gasps and pointing among a few hundred residents who sat in folding chairs along the sidewalk to watch the procession.
The 122-foot-long-by-35-foot-tall space shuttle mock-up, named the “Inspiration,” was transported via big rigs in multiple parts nearly a third of a mile along Bellflower Boulevard from a city maintenance yard to a temporary housing location. The prototype will eventually be the centerpiece of a new space shuttle museum at the expanded Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey.