‘This is where it all happened.’ Downey’s space shuttle prototype begins move to future home

Excerpt: At slower than a walking pace, the prototype that helped launch America’s space shuttle program paraded down Downey streets Thursday morning on its way to a temporary housing location in preparation for a move to its final home.

Dozens of students who skipped classes waved and snapped selfies near the partially-covered wood and plastic model. The visible rear engine nozzles garnered gasps and pointing among a few hundred residents who sat in folding chairs along the sidewalk to watch the procession.

The 122-foot-long-by-35-foot-tall space shuttle mock-up, named the “Inspiration,” was transported via big rigs in multiple parts nearly a third of a mile along Bellflower Boulevard from a city maintenance yard to a temporary housing location. The prototype will eventually be the centerpiece of a new space shuttle museum at the expanded Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey.

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Massive shuttle prototype rolls through Downey

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Huge Inspiration space shuttle mock-up will be making a move through Downey streets