The Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour rolled off the NASA production line in April 1991. It flew a total of 25 missions from 1992 to 2011, clocking over 7,000 hours in space, flying 122,883,151 miles and completing 4,671 orbits of the Earth.
It’s named after the Royal Navy full-rig research vessel HMS Endeavour, the first European ship to reach Australia, with Captain James Cook going ashore at what is now known as Botany Bay. This is why the name is spelled in the British manner, rather than the American spelling.
Following its decommission, more than 20 organizations submitted proposals to NASA for the permanent display of an orbiter and NASA announced that Endeavour would be gifted to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. After low level flyovers above landmarks across the city, Endeavour was delivered to Los Angeles International Airport on September 21, 2012. The orbiter was tentatively transported through the streets of Inglewood and Ladera Heights three weeks later to its final destination at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.
Space buff Stephen Silberkraus was there at every single step of the way. From the moment the Endeavour was moved out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and prepared for the flight to the West Coast, to actual wheels up on the specially modified 747 transport plane, all the way to touchdown of that aircraft at LAX and even the slow slog through the streets of South Los Angeles, Silberkraus was there.
“There have been lots of people photographing every stage of Endeavour’s journey. There were people there for take off, there was a team at the airport for the landing and of course later there were lots for the journey through the city and even for the installation at the Science Center. But as far as I’m aware, I’m the only one that’s been at every single stage,” Silberkraus said.
“I was at the VAB, in the Orbiter Processing Facility, I walked with her onto the runway and stayed while she was attached to the 747 carrier. Then I jumped on a flight to California and I was there on the tarmac when it landed and was taken to the United hanger to be prepped for the drive to Downtown and then again when it was lifted out of the Center and then repositioned onto the external tank,” he said.
What makes this story all the more fascinating is that Silberkraus is very much an amateur photographer. In fact, he says, it’s only through sheer good fortune that this has been possible as his career couldn’t be more different to that of an aspiring aviation aficionado.
That said, the space industry has always been an influence in his life. His father was an engineer for Douglas and manufactured components for the S-IVB stage of the Saturn V rocket that took men to the Moon. This was the third stage that contained the Lunar Module during launch. After discovering he was too tall to be an astronaut, Silberkraus became a chemical engineer and relocated to Henderson, Nevada. One thing led to another and he met his future wife, invested significantly in property and was even elected as a Nevada State assemblyman, representing Henderson and Clark County.
“Oh, I wanted to be an astronaut, like so many other kids, but I was convinced I was going to be an astronaut,” Silberkraus laughs. “I went to Space Camp, then Space Academy and I was already leaning towards engineering, you know, I had everything going for me,” he said, before adding, “And then I hit a growth spurt in middle school and I hit 6’4”, which is too tall to be considered for an astronaut.”
Silberkraus says that he very much hopes he will be able to photograph future Artemis missions and document mankind’s continued efforts to take the human race into space on a more permanent basis. In the meantime, he will be snapping the Endeavour during each and every stage of the launch stack assembly.
Called “Go for Stack” the change in the orbiter’s nature of display is part of the future Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center (named after a Los Angeles entrepreneur and philanthropist), which is currently under construction. Sadly, Endeavour will be off display for several years, until the Air and Space Center opens to the public. The new, vertical display will be 20 stories high, mounted on seismic isolator pads and represents a technical challenge that has never been undertaken outside of a NASA facility.
Endeavour will be attached to the last remaining flight-certified external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters to form the only full Space Transportation System stack display. The other orbiters, Atlantis (on display at KSC), Discovery (at the Smithsonian in Washington DC) and Enterprise (at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York) are not displayed in a full pre-launch position.
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will dramatically expand the footprint and impact of the California Science Center, adding 200,000 square feet of space for exhibits, events and educational programs. It will include three multi-level galleries – Aviation, Space and Shuttle – spanning four floors and covering 100,000 square feet of exhibit space. The rest will be taken up with new special exhibits and an Events Center that will host the Center’s exciting lineup of popular changing installations.
scott.snowden@smdp.com