Extra Credit Event 1 - California Science Center

Artistic representation of a shuttle flying into space

I went to the California Science Center to see the Endeavor Space Shuttle on Friday, June 3. The shuttle is being held in the Samuel Oschin Pavillion, but before I got to the hanger I walked through an exhibit called Endeavor Together: Parts & People. It was a really cool exhibit with videos of each of its 25 missions and artifacts from previous missions. It also has the massive external tank displayed just outside of the pavilion. The shuttle was absolutely massive, and it was an incredible site to see. This exhibit obviously connects with our week 9 learnings about Space and Art, because this shuttle helped the human race make great strides since its maiden voyage in 1992. Space is infinite in size and forever puzzling, but as we look out into the stars and learn about the universe, we actually learn more about ourselves. As Neil DeGrasse Tyson famously says in his TV series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, "We are star stuff" (Tyson, 2014), because the same elements that make up our bodies and the Earth we stand on are the same elements being fused together at the cores of stars all around the universe.

Endeavor's Last flight before retirement

 The Space Shuttle itself however, has become a symbol for human travel in outer space. It's vertical seating while attached to the massive orange external tank with two white rockets boosters on either side has become an iconic symbol that has inspired many to look up and imagine the infinite possibilities of space. I actually got to see the Endeavor for its last flight while it was strapped on top of a Boeing 747. The shuttle has become famous in its own right, and while the it sits atop Cape Canaveral waiting to ignite its massive rockets and launch into the heavens, the famous Houston countdown begins from 10 and the country sits in silence and waits for mankind to take another stab at solving the mysteries of, "The final Frontier" (Sagan, 1980).

Iconic shuttle take off

Sources

 "Space Shuttle Endeavour." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 04 June 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Endeavour>. 

 "Space Shuttle Endeavour." California Science Center. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://californiasciencecenter.org/exhibits/air-space/space-shuttle-endeavour?gclid=CLyDiZ2xj80CFYpffgodlrYFVA>.

 

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Dir. Brannon Braga, Bill Pope, and Ann Durban. Prod. Seth Macfarlane. Perf. Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Fox National Geographic Channel, 2014. 

 Dunbar, Brian. "Endeavor." NASA. NASA, 2005. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/shuttleoperations/orbiters/orbitersend.html>. 

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Dir. Adrian Malone. By Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter. PBS, 1980.

 "Complete Coverage: Shuttle Endeavour's Last Voyage." Space.com. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.space.com/11489-space-shuttle-endeavour-final-flight-sts134.html>. 

Images

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/120920121523-space-shuttle-endeavour-13-horizontal-large-gallery.jpg

https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/audio/video/2012/9/5/1346856789241/Space-shuttle-Endeavour-008.jpg

http://t03.deviantart.net/yrclP2N-dMg5a2YwhxwDnDK0Yos=/300x200/filters:fixed_height(100,100):origin()/pre04/26c3/th/pre/f/2015/355/8/6/space_shuttle_discovery_art_by_syahrudinfaizal-d9kzaw4.jpg