Endeavour in Inglewood

Almost close enough to touch

The first thing I did this morning was turn on the TV to see where the space shuttle Endeavour was in its trek to its new home. It had just passed the Inglewood city hall on its way to the Forum, where it was due to stop for an official “public viewing.” Thousands of people were expected. If we left right then, we could probably see it ourselves as it crawled slowly up Manchester Blvd. Tim had, after all, promised that we could see the shuttle in transit when we missed it flying into town while we were in Kansas City. So we threw on some clothes and headed out the door.

Karen used to live in Inglewood, very close to where Endeavour was passing, so we drove up her old street, until it became too congested and then just pulled over and parked. We then walked half-a-mile toward the Forum, glancing at Manchester the whole time to see if we could see signs of the shuttle.

When we arrived, we could see people standing behind barriers in the Forum parking lot, but no Endeavour. It was still en route! People were lining the street about 4-deep. No sign of the shuttle at all, until Tim suddenly yelled, “There’s the tail!” Then its huge black nose appeared.

Heading toward us on Manchester Blvd.

I thought Endeavour looked big yesterday when I saw it parked in Westchester, but it was absolutely ENORMOUS ten feet away! Tim took photos like mad, while I just watched it pass. Everyone was ecstatic. This was way more exciting than when we saw the big rock drive by in Carson back in March! 

On its way past the Forum

There it goes!

“A once in a lifetime experience,” some people were saying. More like “one time only!” I highly doubt anyone will ever see a spacecraft moving down the streets of Los Angeles again. What an amazing sight!

One last peak as we walked back to the car

Endeavour's tail with the Forum in the background—

really puts things into perspective, doesn't it?