A rare look inside Endeavour

The California Science Center opened Endeavour‘s 60-foot-long payload bay doors for the first time since 2014 – a significant endeavor in itself! Crane operators, former NASA contractors and museum staff installed a replica of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), a 50-foot-long camera-and-laser tipped extension to the robotic Canadarm that astronauts used to inspect the vehicle for damage incurred during launch or while in space. In its permanent home in the new Samuel Oschin Air + Space Center, currently under construction, Endeavour will be displayed vertically in full shuttle stack mode with one payload door will be open so guests can see inside the cargo hold as it was configured for its 20th mission, STS-118. Learn more at collectSpace.

Photos courtesy of California Science Center and Lois Huneycutt.