Original full-size space shuttle mockup to be restored for Downey display

A full-size mockup of the space shuttle orbiter that was built as a contractor’s showcase model before NASA decided on the spacecraft’s final design is heading back on display after more than 25 years in storage.

For the past decade, the City of Downey in California has worked on plans to exhibit the North American Rockwell model after rediscovering its existence in 2012. Nine years later, state lawmakers approved $800,000 to restore the plywood and plastic space shuttle ahead of its display at the city’s Columbia Memorial Space Center in Discovery Park.

Then, in May of this year, the city completed a environmental review for the Space Shuttle Exhibit & Education Building Project, giving the go to construct a 29,000-square-foot (2,700 square meters) expansion to the space center. The two-story building will include a dedicated space to exhibit the 122-foot-long by 35-foot-tall (37 by 11 m) original concept model for NASA’s winged orbiters, as well as an event space for up to 300 attendees, offices and classrooms.

Named “Inspiration” by the Columbia Memorial Space Center, the model has sat in outdoor storage, divided into segments and covered in plastic tarps, since briefly being exhibited under a temporary tent 12 years ago. Now preparations are being made to move the shuttle’s pieces to a facility where it can be reassembled and restored for display.