Blog Post: 'Space Shuttle: The Final Countdown' Sunday Night on the Smithsonian Channel

Americans of all ages have been fascinated by outer space and what lies beyond.  This new documentary helps us understand why the United States ended the space shuttle program and what lies ahead. And the really cool part is that one of the shuttles will make its permanent home at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

For 30 years, it was America’s flagship in space, flying more miles, completing more missions and delivering more hardware than any other spacecraft in history.

Now, as the Space Shuttle enters America’s pantheon of air and space achievement, Smithsonian Channel marks the end of an era with the premiere of Space Shuttle: The Final Countdown on Sunday, April 22 at p.m.

Through interviews with NASA scientists, administrators, astronauts and Smithsonian Institution historians, Space Shuttle: The Final Countdown tells the definitive story of the shuttle era: its incredible achievements, its devastating tragedies–and the dream to make space travel affordable and routine.

The California Science Center in Los Angeles is one of four institutions chosen to receive a Space Shuttle Orbiter for permanent display. On October 11, 2011, NASA officially transferred title of Space Shuttle Endeavour to the California Science Center Foundation, making it the first institution to take ownership of a shuttle. The transfer is the first step toward the Science Center receiving Endeavour, which is scheduled for delivery in the latter part of 2012.