The retired Endavor space shuttle has finally taken up residence at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
Here is a street-level story that you didn’t see about the flying machine’s recent journey through the city: The meticulous job of analyzing and preparing roads, bridges, sewers and storm drains to withstand the 250 tons of Endeavor and its tow vehicle were carried out by two Orange County companies.
Plump Engineering Inc. and Encon Construction Services Inc., which share headquarters in Anaheim, began planning Endeavor’s 12-mile journey shortly after landing the contract from Belgium-based Sarens Group NV in late July.
Financial details of the contract were not disclosed, but California Science Center—which is preparing the shuttle for a permanent display—estimated the cost of getting it there could top $10 million.
Getting the route ready for Endeavor’s final ride from Los Angeles International Airport to the science center meant getting a grip on infrastructure above and below city streets.
Much of the work involved systems of pipes that were installed in the 1920s and ’30s. Some have been corroded and unused for decades.
Plump Engineering is considered an expert in heavy lifting. Its portfolio includes supporting the 105-mile transportation of an 860,000-pound granite boulder from a Riverside quarry to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and moving 800,000-pound vessels from refineries in Long Beach to San Onofre.
Target Sectors
The company sees about $5 million in annual revenue and targets the aerospace and manufacturing sectors. It also does surveying, plant-processing analysis, water treatment, and traditional structural, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering.
Plump Engineering partners with Encon—a general contractor that specializes in heavy logistics coordination, design and build—on many projects in the commercial, industrial and retail sectors.
Encon sees about $15 million in annual revenue.
“We do big projects, but we usually don’t have thousands of people cheering,” said Encon President Michael Volchok.
The Endeavor project included pipe stress tests, analyzing soil pressure, and mapping the exact route of the transport vehicle down to the inch. The two firms surveyed every point where supportive steel plates would be placed along the route and welded together. They removed and later replaced the center median on Lincoln Boulevard, a main artery on the route. They also crafted a traffic and pedestrian control plan.
Finding nearly 1,800 metal plates to pave Endeavor’s path presented its own challenges. With every plate leased in Greater Los Angeles, the companies set out to find suppliers, metal makers and contractors in San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas and elsewhere.
The 1-inch plates, which are 8 feet by 10 feet and weigh about 3,300 pounds, provide support and distribute the vehicle’s weight.
Some 250 truckloads of plates totaling 9 million pounds of steel were dropped off at specific sites along the route. They were transported in shipments of 12.
“It took us roughly a week to place them down,” said Plump Engineering principal Richard Plump.
Plump walked a few paces ahead of Endeavor through the streets of South Los Angeles and Inglewood for nearly the entire three-day trip.
“I had less than eight hours sleep” over the three days, he said. “It was pretty brutal.”
The companies had some 65 employees and subcontractors—equipped with forklifts, trucks and other heavy equipment—trail the shuttle caravan if something didn’t go as planned.
Smooth Ride
It turned out be a pretty smooth ride as Endeavor crept along the route at about 2 miles per hour. At full throttle the shuttle blasted through space at 19,000 miles per hour. It spent 299 days in space, traveling more than 122 million miles in its 25 missions.
Both companies view the Endeavor move as a signature project. Publicity boomed with the around-the-clock coverage during the shuttle’s three-day journey that ended in the afternoon hours on Oct. 15.
“When we got this project, we thought this could lead to more lucrative projects, and a bigger profile,” Plump said.
