After various stops and flybys at sites that have contributed to the shuttle program during its 30-year history, Endeavour arrived at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Thursday afternoon.

The shuttle took off again for the final time midmorning Friday and conducted more flyovers of regions in northern and southern California—including the Palmdale area, where all of the shuttles were built, and downtown Los Angeles—before landing at LAX.

CSC president Jeffrey Rudolph told National Geographic News that Endeavour's arrival today marked the fulfillment of a 20-year dream for the center.

"We have renderings of the master plan for the science center going to back to 1992, when we said, 'Someday they're going to retire the space shuttles,