Space shuttle Endeavour rolls through Los Angeles

[Gerald]

Trees have been cut down, power lines have been moved and traffic signals removed to allow the shuttle to pass through the streets.Los Angeles residents have been turning out to watch the US space shuttle Endeavour as it inches through the city on a giant trolley, bound for a museum.

The spacecraft that once reached 17,000mph (28,160km/h) is trundling down the city's famously low-level boulevards at a stately 2mph.

"It's pretty neat to see a spaceship in the street," a spectator told local TV.

Endeavour began its 12-mile, two-day journey on Friday and is due to end up at the California Science Center.

The 75-ton spacecraft entered service in 1992, making 25 trips, logging 123m miles and circling the globe almost 4,700 times.

Replacing Challenger, which was destroyed in an accident in 1986 that killed seven astronauts, Endeavour was the baby of the shuttle fleet.

Nasa took its shuttles out of service last year in order to focus on destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, such as asteroids and Mars.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19935264


Note: 13 October 2012 Last updated at 07:55 GMT