![]() When not in use, the OBSS was stored on the starboard, or right-side sill of the payload bay. ![]() Astronauts used the boom to inspect the orbiter's wings and underbelly to ensure they were not damaged during launch or while in space. Introduced as a safety measure after the loss of space shuttle Columbia in 2003, the OBSS was a 50-foot-long (15.24-m), camera-and-laser-tipped extension to the Canadarm robotic arm. Related: NASA's space shuttle Endeavour: 6 surprising factsĪ replica of Endeavour's Orbiter Boom Inspection System (OBSS), furnished for the California Science Center by Guard-Lee, Inc., will be installed in the space shuttle's payload bay. Endeavour will appear as it did on the launchpad with one exception: one of its payload bay doors will be open, allowing guests to see the equipment inside. Once completed, the exhibit will feature the world's only indoor display of a full space shuttle stack. There, the orbiter will be mated with NASA's last remaining, built-for-flight external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters assembled from previously launched parts. Later this year, Endeavour will be transported from its pavilion to the construction site of its new home, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. STS-118 was chosen because that flight included educator-astronaut Barbara Morgan on its crew and the California Science Center is focused on education. In a much more publicized move almost a decade ago, the science center pulled open Endeavour's two 60-foot-long (18-meter) doors in an event that was called "Go for Payload." Over the course of three weeks in October 2014, engineers and curators used large cranes to load the shuttle's empty bay with a flown Spacehab logistics module and replica components modeled after how Endeavour looked on its 20th mission, STS-118, in 2007. An overhead view of the space shuttle Endeavour after its payload bay doors were opened on Wednesday, Feb.
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