Los Angeles – October 29, 2026 -- The California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center opens November 13, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. It is the permanent home of Space Shuttle Endeavour, shown with its solid rocket boosters and external tank in a 20-story launch configuration. General admission is free, but entry requires a timed reservation with a $4 service fee.
A 200,000-square-foot expansion nearly doubles the museum
The addition holds 100 artifacts and 100 new hands-on exhibits. It spans three galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery. It is the final phase of a three-phase, three-decade master plan.
The Launch Tower lifts visitors 140 feet up the shuttle stack
An elevator carries guests to a glass-floor platform above Endeavour's nose. Back on the ground, the Shuttle Descent Slide drops 45 feet to mimic re-entry. Bright orange light stands in for the glowing plasma, and a double boom evokes the sound barrier breaking. Guests can also sit in a replica flight deck or try the Orbiter Landing Simulator to put Endeavour down on a runway.
Aviation fans can walk into a Korean Air 747
The Korean Air Aviation Gallery shows more than a dozen authentic aircraft, including the Hawker Siddeley Harrier T.4, Grumman F11F Tiger and Pitts Special S-1C. Visitors can enter the forward 70 feet of a Korean Air-operated Boeing 747. An onboard theater compresses a Los Angeles-to-Seoul flight into a five-minute video.
Hands-on options include Wear-a-Wing foam wings and a drone mission interactive over a Los Angeles cityscape. Air Race simulators offer the Pitts Special, JN-4 Jenny or Velie Monocoupe. Each I360 simulator seats two guests and rotates a full 360 degrees.
The space gallery includes real flown capsules
The Kent Kresa Space Gallery displays the Mercury-Redstone 2 capsule, Gemini 11 capsule and Apollo-Soyuz Command Module. Guests can walk through a section of a real solid rocket booster, program a rover, and pull themselves through the ISS Fly-Through Simulator, which uses real astronaut footage.
About 30 astronauts attend opening weekend
The opening ceremony features roughly 30 astronauts, including all six crew members of Endeavour's final mission, STS-134, commanded by U.S. Senator Mark Kelly. Hundreds of school children will be the first to see Endeavour upright.
Astronaut and space talks run every half hour from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. through Sunday, November 15, with experts from NASA JPL and NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. These talks need no timed reservation.
The photo exhibit "Endeavour's Long Journey" also premieres November 13. It documents the shuttle's 12-mile, 68-hour trip through Los Angeles and Inglewood, and the six-month process of stacking it vertically. Four IMAX films open the same day: The Dream Is Alive, Journey to Space 3D, Hubble 3D and A Beautiful Planet 3D.