Space shuttle Endeavour starts road trip to new LA home

LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - The retired space shuttle Endeavour set off on Friday for a road trip unlike any of its previous journeys, one in which it would crawl through the streets of Los Angeles instead of hurtling through space.

Endeavour nosed out of Los Angeles International Airport before dawn as it began a two-day ground journey atop a massive wheeled transporter to its final resting place at the California Science Centre on the edge of downtown.

The hulking craft passed a media viewing point and headed down Westchester Parkway, with about 100 spectators watching.

"It's a national treasure; this is something that we all paid for with our taxes," Mr Ken Phillips, aerospace curator at the science centre, said before the shuttle's journey began.