The Space Shuttle Endeavor spent the night in Houston before departing on the 20th of September to her final home in California. She was in transit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and made a pit stop at Ellington Field, south of Houston. I went to Ellington Field in the early morning hours and captured this shot just prior to her sunrise departure. The Boeing 747 that transported the shuttle made one last low level pass over downtown Houston before heading west. Over its flight career, Space Shuttle Endeavour flew 122,853,151 miles and spent 299 days in space. Endeavour is currently located in the Samuel Oschin Pavilion at the California Science Center in Los Angeles California. I was fortunate to capture this image of the last shuttle from a fleet of historic exploration vehicles.
Subsequently the Boeing 747 transporter returned to Ellington Field. After it travelled by road (minus wings and tail), to Space Center Houston. It is part of an outdoor display with the Explorer mockup mounted for visitor viewing.
Five different orbiters flew into space as part of the program. Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour for a total of 135 missions.