![]() The tank is so large that, as it was lowered, there was less than an inch of space between it and the solid rocket boosters. There are different challenges lifting the shuttle than the external tank, which was completed earlier this month. ![]() Nothing should change after that until the museum opens the payload bay doors in a few years when Endeavour is ready for public display, Rudolph said. The schedule could change because of weather, as strong winds would force a postponement of the move. And the sling will come off, and we'll say, "Done," he said. It's believed that by Thursday, everything will be "hard mated, meaning everything will be torqued, bolted as it will be forever. Once that is done, everything will still need to be tightened, Rudolph said, but the move will effectively be complete. And several of the pieces inside the orbiter that it attaches to are very fragile, so they will do this very slowly." "It puts all the attached hardware in the right place on the orbiter. "It is extremely sensitive to get it in exactly the right position," Rudolph said. The second part will be to "capture" Endeavour to the external tank. "That's the part of lifting it into the building and getting it close to the orbiter," said Jeffrey Rudolph, president of the California Science Center. ![]() The first- the so-called "soft mate"-is scheduled to begin around 10 p.m. will be home to the only retired space shuttle displayed in a full-stack arrangement as if ready for launch. Once complete-and the rest of the museum is constructed in the coming years-L.A. The external tank is attached to twin solid rocket boosters, which are connected to the exhibit's foundation. Once the shuttle is pointed toward the stars, the shorter crane will be disconnected, leaving the taller crane to gently swing the orbiter to its final position and lowering it to be affixed with the giant orange external tank. An 11-story crane will lift the tail of Endeavour, while a 40-story crawler crane-about the height of City Hall-will lift the nose. First, a pair of cranes will hoist the shuttle from a horizontal position to a vertical one the spacecraft will be attached to a sling, a large metal frame that'll support it during the move. Plans for the coming move-setting into place the crown jewel of the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center-have been in the works for more than a decade.
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