One week ago, I was presented with a last minute opportunity that I couldn’t possibly pass up – to help document the Space shuttle Endeavour as it embarked on its final mission, Mission 26, a twelve mile journey through the streets of Inglewood and Los Angeles.

This is the end result:

Over the course of three days, our core team of myself, Matt Givot, and Joe Capra worked on virtually no sleep to document every angle and activity possible as Endeavour maneuvered through the city streets at a maximum speed of 2mph. We were joined along the route by Brian Hawkins, Andrew Walker, and Ryan Killackey who provided a lot of help in capturing more angles and amazing moments.

All in all, we captured well over 2TB of timelapse material during the move. As if capturing it was not enough work, all of it has been processed and some select shots were used to piece together this video, which chronologically details Endeavour’s journey from LAX to its new permanent home at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

The one thing that sticks out to me from this journey is how proud and amazed everybody was all along the route. The first reveal of Endeavour leaving LAX on Thursday night elicited oohs and aahs followed by stunned silence in the press/media area, and these are people who are not easily fazed by atypical sights. Watching the shuttle move, shimmy, and pivot through the streets elicited constant amazement to the huge crowds that came out. In many cases, people waited hours just to catch a glimpse of the shuttle moving through a familiar area or neighborhood. The mood was so powerful and positive at every place I visited along the route. We spent a lot of time up close and personal with Endeavour and the many people tasked with moving it and protecting it, and the excitement and amazement never wore off among any of us.

We have a lot of footage that didn’t make the cut, as well as some live video and stills from throughout the journey, so stay tuned for more! A huge thanks goes out to Matt Givot for coordinating and organizing all of this, and to the Inglewood Police Department and City of Inglewood for their gracious and generous help in making this all happen.

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