Endeavour to visit Houston area

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - AUGUST 16: Space Shuttles Atlantis (L) and Endeavour face each other as they as Endeavour backs out of the Orbiter Processing Facility and Atlantis is moved out of the Vehicle Assembly Building August 16, 2012 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Space shuttle Endeavour will be moved to the California Science Center as a permanent exhibit and Space shuttle Atlantis will be kept at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. (Photo by Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images) less CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - AUGUST 16: Space Shuttles Atlantis (L) and Endeavour face each other as they as Endeavour backs out of the Orbiter Processing Facility and Atlantis is moved out of the Vehicle Assembly ... more Photo: Roberto Gonzalez Photo: Roberto Gonzalez Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Endeavour to visit Houston area 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

En route to its final destination in Los Angeles, the space shuttle Endeavour will soar about 1,500 feet above spots in Houston, Clear Lake and Galveston next week and make a stop at Ellington Airport.

The shuttle, which completed 25 missions, spent 299 days in orbit and circled the Earth 4,661 times, will be carried atop NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, from Florida to California starting next Monday.

For those hoping to catch a glimpse of the shuttle in the Houston area, the tentative schedule has the shuttle arriving on Monday about 9 or 10:30 a.m. after visiting the Mississippi Gulf Coast and eastern New Orleans.

Weather-permitting, the aircraft and shuttle plan to fly near three major airports - Bush Intercontinental, William P. Hobby and Ellington - the downtown skyline, the San Jacinto Monument and NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Kyle Herring, a NASA spokesman at the Johnson Space Center, said that timing depends on the weather and other operational constraints. He said it's possible the schedule could be off by hours or even days.

With that said, the landing at Ellington, where the public can view the shuttle from 100 feet away, is scheduled for 10:45 a.m. near the NASA Hangar 990 pedestrian gate. The viewing will continue until 7 p.m.

"It is definitely something worth seeing - in flight and on the ground," Herring said.

The shuttle is scheduled to leave Ellington at sunrise on Sept. 19 and will arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 20.

It will have a permanent display in Los Angeles. NASA will provide social media updates about the shuttle's cross-country flight with the hashtags #SpotTheShuttle and #OV105.

erin.mulvaney@chron.com