Last year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration selected four sites to permanently display a space-shuttle orbiter, and the California Science Center in Los Angeles will house the Endeavour. As an aerospace engineer, architect and believer in the modernist tradition, I have some suggestions for the exhibit.
The plans so far call for exhibiting the orbiter both horizontally and, later, vertically, as if it were ready for launch. But I have another concept: Dock the Endeavour to a full-scale mock-up of the International Space Station. The result would resemble a theme park—an idea that already has been suggested for the Endeavour's arrival and parade through town.