Space Shuttle Endeavour's Free Los Angeles Home Has a $4 Catch

Reservations for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center carry a $4-per-person fee, waived for California Science Center members.

Space shuttle Endeavour now stands upright in Exposition Park, about 20 stories tall and stacked with its external tank and solid rocket boosters, the way it looked on the launch pad. Starting Friday, Nov. 13, you can walk in and look up at it for nothing, Secret Los Angeles reported Saturday, when the California Science Center opens the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.

Free comes with a footnote. General admission costs nothing, but the museum strongly encourages reservations, and each one carries a $4 service fee per person unless you're a member, LAist reported after the center's Oct. 14 announcement. For a family of four, that's $16 to lock in a time.

Booking opens in two waves. Members got first pick at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19, and everyone else can book starting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, through the science center's reservations page or by phone at 213-744-2019. One booking covers up to 19 people per entry time; a group of 20 or more has to call.

Dodging the fee means joining. Every California Science Center membership is a family plan, good for up to two adults and four kids 17 and under, according to the museum's membership page.

What you're reserving is big. The 200,000-square-foot addition nearly doubles the museum's exhibit space, Secret Los Angeles reported, and the site put the project's worth at $450 million. Endeavour holds down the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, and two more main galleries join it, along with 100 new hands-on exhibits.

The payoff is the angle. Standing vertical, Endeavour shows off its engines and the thermal tiles that shielded it on the way back through Earth's atmosphere, according to LAist, which photographed the gallery ahead of the opening.

If you keep a list of free ways into L.A. museums, this one goes on it with an asterisk. Book Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. The shuttle's pointed at the sky, but it isn't going anywhere.

Source: secretlosangeles.com, retrieved October 18, 2026. Other sources: LAist, californiasciencecenter.org, californiasciencecenter.org (2).