March Field Air Museum near Riverside gets space shuttle rocket booster - Press-Enterprise

A space shuttle rocket booster has arrived at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside.

Jamil Dada, president of the museum’s board, said the shuttle rocket booster has launched space shuttles on their missions before parachuting into the ocean. Afterward, it is reused by NASA on future flights. A rocket booster can fly a crew up to 146,000 feet into space.

The booster was at Cape Canaveral and Edwards Air Force Base, before arriving in the Riverside area late Tuesday, Dec. 1. At 150-feet long — about half the size of a football field — it took several trucks, driving at 30 mph, and two giant cranes, to transport the booster and lift the rocket onto museum property.

• Jeff Houlihan, director of the March Field Air Museum near Riverside, is framed by a skirt for its new space shuttle rocket booster Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

• A crew straps a skirt before attaching it to a space shuttle rocket booster with a crane at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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• Jamil Dada, president of the March Field Air Museum board, seen Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, is proud of the museum’s new 150-feet-long space shuttle rocket booster. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

• A crew straps a skirt before attaching it to the space shuttle rocket booster with a crane at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

• Jeff Houlihan, the March Field Air Museum’s director, center, and Jamil Dada, board president, left, oversee the space shuttle rocket booster’s arrival Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. It took 30 minutes for the 150-foot long booster to make the left turn onto the Van Buren Bridge. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

• Jamil Dada, president of the March Field Air Museum board, said Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, that the space shuttle rocket booster is as long as a B-52 bomber. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

• Jamil Dada, president of the March Field Air Museum board, left, and museum Director Jeff Houlihan were pleased with a new space shuttle rocket booster from NASA on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

• A space shuttle rocket booster from NASA takes its place among planes at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

• Chris Essman was among crew members who arranged a new space shuttle rocket booster at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

• A crane moves a space shuttle rocket booster at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. It arrived the night before, traveling at 30 mph. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

• Jeff Houlihan, March Field Air Museum director, left, and Jamil Dada, board president, examine the museum’s new space shuttle rocket booster Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. It arrived the the night before at the museum near Riverside. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

The $65,000 price tag to acquire and transport the rocket was split between the museum and NASA. The booster will be seen by the 215 Freeway’s off-ramp at Van Buren Boulevard.

Over the next three months, the museum plans to build a memorial garden around the booster, commemorating the 14 astronauts who died in the 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia space shuttle accidents.

“It will add a whole dimension of science, technology, engineering, math and space for our 25,000 annual student visitors,” Dada said. “It will elevate our museum to another level.”

Indoor museum exhibits are not open during the coronavirus pandemic, but visitors can still see more than 80 military aircraft outside.

The Link Lonk


December 03, 2020 at 10:12AM
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March Field Air Museum near Riverside gets space shuttle rocket booster - Press-Enterprise

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