www.csua.org/u/xyw -> www.space.com/18052-space-shuttle-endeavour-toyota-truck-tow.html
Shop Space Shuttle Endeavour's LA Street Road Trip (Pictures) Space Shuttle Endeavour's LA Street Road Trip (Pictures) Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (at left) joined others on May 17, 2012 at the California Science Center to name the new and future home of NASA's space shuttle Endeavour for the late Samuel Oschin, an entrepreneur, explorer and philanthropist. LA's California Science Center: Final Home of Shuttle Endeavour (Photos) Nearly two dozen museums and other locations around the US (plus one in England) boast real spaceships that have carried astronauts on missions to Earth orbit and the Moon, viewable to the public.
Space shuttle Endeavour is seen being towed by a 2012 Toyota Tundra truck in Los Angeles, Oct. Space shuttle Endeavour is seen being towed by a 2012 Toyota Tundra truck in Los Angeles, Oct.
View full size image LOS ANGELES -- Why did the space shuttle cross the road? Or at least, that was the case for the shuttle Endeavour, which overnight Friday (Oct.
launched on the CSC's "Mission 26," a two day, 12 mile (19 kilometer) journey through the city streets of LA and Inglewood. Endeavour is expected to arrive at the science center on Saturday night.
shuttle Endeavour spent nearly 15 hours idling in a shopping center parking lot and then outside a donut shop waiting for crews to raise power lines, clearing its route to reach the Manchester Boulevard Bridge by midnight. Much of the day's trip was made with the shuttle riding on a modified NASA overland transporter driven by four self-propelled, computer-controlled vehicles. To cross the 405 freeway however, the 155,000-pound (70,300-kilogram) Endeavour needed a tow.
drive a space shuttle across an LA bridge in a scene made for TV? Seated behind the 2012 Tundra's steering wheel was Matt McBride, a precision driver whose credits include Toyota commercials as well as Hollywood blockbusters, such as last year's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." Seated to McBride's right was astronaut Garrett Reisman, who launched aboard Endeavour for his first spaceflight in 2008. "If you told me one day that Endeavour would be sitting here next to Randy's Donuts, I'd say you were crazy, but here she is." "It's weird, very, very weird, but also really, really cool," he said. Though Toyota's cameras were rolling, the tow was more than just an excuse to shoot an advertisement. To better distribute the space shuttle's weight and to meet with road restrictions, Endeavour's custom transport was moved out and wheeled dollies took the place of the four vehicles. A silver Toyota Tundra CrewMax half-ton pickup provided the horsepower to tug the orbiter over the freeway. Toyota said the truck was not modified or enhanced in any way to accomplish the tow.
Toyota currently has a Tundra truck on display at the science center in an exhibit demonstrating the physics of leverage. The Tundra that was used to tow Endeavour Friday will replace the Tundra now on exhibit and will be on display after the shuttle's pavilion opens on Oct.
developed a website to provide behind the scenes videos, photos, activities for children, and details about the Tundra Endeavour project. Visitors to the website can share the content, subscribe to email alerts and use Twitter to the spread word about the Toyota Tundra's role in Endeavour's delivery. For the first 10,000 "re-tweets" sent through the website, Toyota will donate $50 to the California Science Center to support building the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, the permanent home for the space shuttle Endeavour.
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