The California Science Center will be the final stop for one of NASA's retired space shuttles.

NASA: Endeavour History



About a dozen facilities were in the running to land one of the retired shuttles. Endeavour will land at the California Science Center, where it will join spacecrafts Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

The shuttles will be ready for shipment by mid-2012. Endeavour will fly to California on the back of NASA's modified Boeing 747.

Details regarding the shuttle display at the center have not been released.

The decision means Endeavour, built at Rockwell International Space Systems facility in Palmdale, will return home to California.



"The Endeavor will provide an educational platform for the public to celebrate California's long time leadership in science, technology, mathematics and engineering,'' said Jeffrey N. Rudolph, the center's president.

The shuttle will be in a new area at the existing Science Center building. A new gallery will be devoted to aeronautics and space exploration.

Endeavour was the final shuttle built. It replaced Challenger, which was destroyed on launch in 1986.

Endeavour was delivered to NASA in May 1991 from the Rockwell facility. Its final mission is scheduled for April 29.

Shuttle Atlantis will stay in Florida. Discovery will be at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

