The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will expand Los Angeles’s science campus around Space Shuttle Endeavour, combining aerospace history with interactive learning.
The California Science Center Foundation has set November 13, 2026, as the scheduled opening date for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, the permanent home of Space Shuttle Endeavour. The California Science Center announced the date on June 24, 2026, alongside the release of first images showing Endeavour installed in its launch position. The project extends the institution’s role as a public science destination while turning the shuttle into the centrepiece of a substantially expanded visitor experience.
The 200,000-square-foot expansion is designed to nearly double the California Science Center’s exhibit space. According to the Foundation, it will present 100 aerospace artefacts and 100 new hands-on exhibits across three multi-level galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery. The centre describes the building as the third and final major phase of a three-phase, three-decade master plan.
Endeavour will be displayed as part of a complete, authentic space shuttle system in a 20-storey launch position. The shuttle gallery itself rises nearly 200 feet and will examine the programme’s 135 missions, thermal protection technology and the crews and rescue personnel who lost their lives during the Shuttle Programme. Planned interactive features include a 140-foot gantry-style lift, a 115-foot-long descent slide dropping 45 feet, and a replica flight deck with working-style controls.
The announcement places the project at the intersection of preservation and participation. Rather than presenting Endeavour solely as a static artefact, the planned galleries are intended to let visitors examine the spacecraft from different elevations while exploring the engineering principles behind atmospheric flight and human activity in low Earth orbit. The Foundation said the shuttle stack is complete, but months of artefact and exhibit installation work remain before the centre is ready to open on the scheduled date.
Access will retain a public-facing emphasis: general admission to the California Science Center, including the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, is free, while timed reservations are expected for the new centre and may carry a small service fee. The Foundation reported that nearly $410 million had been raised towards the project’s $450 million budget, with support from more than 1,100 donors. For the California Science Center, the November 13, 2026, opening is therefore both a construction milestone and the planned next chapter for Endeavour’s educational life in Los Angeles.
