#et94

Towards the end of May I volunteered with the California Science Center to help escort the last shuttle external tank, known as ET-94!

It took like, an hour and a half to go from ‘visible’ to ‘holy shit it’s right here in front of us’, and when it finally got to us it just zipped on by! We spent a lot of time just hanging out in the street chatting with other volunteers and waiting spectators.

Last space shuttle External Tank arrives at California Science Center.

ET-94 paraded its way through the Los Angeles suburbs today, May 21, as it journeyed to its final home at the California Science Center.

The last surviving flight-worthy space shuttle external tank, ET-94 left the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans April 12, where it has been since it was fabricated in the early 2000′s. It traversed the Panama Canal April 25-27, and arrived at Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles last Wednesday, May 19, after a 36-day sea voyage.

Leaving Marina Del Rey at 12:01am PDT with a New Orleans jazz band, the tank encountered more obstacles than expected during its 15.5 mile trek through the city, arriving at the CSC at 7:13pm PDT.

Towed through the streets of Inglewood, the last time space hardware shut down traffic was in October 2012, when space shuttle Endeavour was towed from Los Angeles International Airport to the CSC.