Eating Lunch In A Plywood Space Shuttle

Keith’s note: according to this LAist article: “The Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for a roughly 40,000-square-foot expansion that will include indoor and outdoor science learning areas and space for special exhibits. The centerpiece of the buildout will include an interactive display of the Inspiration space shuttle mockup, where visitors can go inside the cargo bay.” When I worked at Rockwell Downey in the early 1980s (location of the Columbia Memorial Space Center) I used to climb inside this plywood orbiter mockup (Missing its left wing) in the DEI room at noon to eat lunch. Shh! I was not the only one who did this (you Rockwell alumni know you did too). I also stood inside the aft end of Discovery and Atlantis during assembly in Building 1, past Challenger in Palmdale, and drove around Downey in an old gas scooter with hardware spares of what would eventually become Endeavor one day. There was Apollo junk in the desk I used. Lots of fun by this 20-something space fan. 30 years later when the Columbia Center opened I spoke at the opening ceremony as a member of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education board of directors. The Columbia Center building is located where I used to park my car. Discovery is 15 minutes from my house now (unless Ted Cruz takes it). My friends and things I helped designed flew on all of them. It’s fun when life coming full circle.