One year later:
Endeavour
still awing
the people
throughout
Los Angeles
Story by Mary Kanian
Photos by Julian Leek
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Controversy marked every step
of Endeavour’s path to Los Angeles.
From the beginning it was the old
wrangling over which coast was
the right coast – the ‘Left’ Coast or
the East Coast? And did L.A. even
deserve one of these precious
birds?
The answer to the questions
posed all the way along became
crystal clear to those lucky enough
to follow the majestic machine
through the streets of L.A. or view
the television coverage in October
of 2012.
But back then it was how would
the neighborhoods of central and
south-central Los Angeles receive
the behemoth rolling thru their
communities and necessitating the
removal of hundreds of trees and
disrupting traffic flow for days, even
weeks, as preparations were made
for the parade of the century in this
city.
Plans initially called for the public
to be contained a block away
from Endeavour as she made her
way along – which proved to be
impossible and totally unnecessary.
As a precaution, a pressure
washing firm was engaged to
follow Endeavour along the route
to quickly wash away any eggs,
tomatoes or paintballs that could
be fired from a rowdy crowd. Such
low expectations of people whose
hard earned tax monies had also
been used to make these space
expeditions possible.
All these issues and concerns
of the worthiness of Los Angeles
to receive a shuttle were readily
and soundly dispelled in the wildly
enthusiastic yet totally respectful
reception that greeted Endeavour
every inch of the way.
Despite
the
delays
that
sometimes occurred along the
way while wires were raised higher
and tree branches were trimmed
the additional few inches to clear
her path, the people waited, and
waited, into the night to have their
www.RocketSTEM.org