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Space shuttle embarks on 12-mile trip to L.A. museum

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The space shuttle Endeavour is moved out of the United hangar at Los Angeles International Airport just before midnight Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 to begin its two-day trek across Los Angeles and Inglewood to the California Science Center where it will be on

The space shuttle Endeavour is moved out of the United hangar at Los Angeles International Airport just before midnight Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 to begin its two-day trek across Los Angeles and Inglewood to the California Science Center where it will be on permanent display. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Bryan Chan, Pool)

Bryan Chan, AP

LOS ANGELES — In a massive feat of parallel parking, the space shuttle Endeavour has been backed into a Los Angeles parking lot for a pause on its final journey to a museum.

The 170,000-pound spacecraft was cheered by hundreds of viewers Friday morning as it made its predawn journey from a Los Angeles International Airport hangar through the Westchester neighborhood.

The shuttle is crawling at 2 mph on a two-day journey to the California Science Center, where it will spend its retirement. It hit the streets at around 2 a.m. as a crowd of people snapped photos and applauded.

The shuttle went about three miles before stopping at around 5:30 a.m. Its final nine-mile trek will begin in the afternoon.

The first leg was delayed about two hours by a minor problem with the shuttle's carrier. Endeavour also and made several stops so crews could prune trees in the path of its 75-foot wingspan.