Endeavour Set for Low-Level Bay Area Flyover on Sept. 20

Space Shuttle Endeavour made its final journey into lower orbit in May 2011 and it will soon make its final ferry flight — on the back of a Boeing 747 — from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Los Angeles International Airport.

And folks in the Bay Area may be in for a special treat, since Endeavour is scheduled to conduct low-level flyovers at about 1,500 feet above locations along a planned flight path on Sept. 20 that includes the Bay Area, from Sacramento to San Francisco and even NASA Ames Research Center near Mountain View.

The exact timing of when Endeavour will flyover the region will be determined closer to the flight time because of weather conditions and operational constraints, according to NASA. However, Endeavour is currently scheduled to take off from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in the morning before passing near Ames.

The aircraft also will conduct a flyover of many Los Angeles sites before landing about 11 a.m. Pacific time at LAX.

Endeavour will now be an attraction at the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion in Los Angeles as a result of an Oct. 11, 2011 title transfer between NASA and the California Science Center. The public can see it beginning on Oct. 30.

Endeavour's, STS-134 mission, was the space shuttle program's second to last flight. Commander Mark Kelly led the six-person veteran crew, which included Gregory H. Johnson, pilot; Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency's Roberto Vittori, all mission specialists to the International Space Station.

Endeavour completed 25 missions, spent 299 days in orbit, and orbited Earth 4,671 times while traveling 122,883,151 miles.

Stay Patched in! Follow Novato Patch on Twitter | Like Novato Patch on Facebook | Sign up for the daily e-mail with links to the latest news.