The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, the California Science Center's 200,000 sq ft (about 18,600 m²) expansion by ZGF Architects in Exposition Park, opens on 13 November 2026, and free timed reservations open on 19 October for members and on 21 October for everyone else. Its centrepiece is Space Shuttle Endeavour, stood upright with its external tank and twin boosters in a 200 ft (61 m) gallery built around it.
Key takeaways
- The bookings. Members can reserve from 9:30 a.m. on 19 October 2026 and the public from 9:30 a.m. on 21 October, NBC Los Angeles reported on 14 October.
- The price. Entry is free; booking ahead carries a $4 service fee, and walk-ups pay nothing if a time slot is free.
- The opening. The building opens on 13 November 2026, a date the Science Center announced on 24 June.
- The building. ZGF's 200,000 sq ft expansion holds three galleries, about 100 artefacts and 100 new hands-on exhibits, under a curved stainless-steel skin.
- The shuttle. Endeavour stands in launch position, about 20 storeys tall, in a 30,000 sq ft gallery with no interior columns.
What happened: Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center reservations
The California Science Center set out its booking rules on 14 October, NBC Los Angeles reported. Admission is free, but entry is by timed slot, and staff strongly recommend booking because of the demand they expect. Construction is complete, after several years of planning and building.
Jeffrey Rudolph, the Science Center's president and chief executive, said the building "fulfills a decades-long dream". It has been a long wait. Endeavour, the last shuttle built, flew 25 missions from 1992 until its final flight in 2011, after which NASA chose the Science Center as its permanent home, according to the governor's office. It reached Los Angeles in 2012 and was moved slowly through the streets from LAX to Exposition Park, then shown lying horizontally in a temporary pavilion until a building could hold it upright, as NBC Los Angeles recalled in June.
The building: a gallery cut to fit a spacecraft
ZGF Architects says the expansion completes a 30-year master plan for the Science Center. It is organised as three multi-level galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery for flight in the atmosphere and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery for exploration beyond it. Outside, a curved stainless-steel skin takes its line from the shuttle's own flowing form.
The Shuttle Gallery is the point of the building. It is 30,000 sq ft (about 2,800 m²) in plan and 200 ft tall, a tapering, cone-like volume held up by a diagrid of crossing steel diagonals engineered by Arup. Because the diagrid carries the load in the skin, there are no columns inside, and visitors can see Endeavour from below, from above and alongside the full vertical stack as they climb through the levels. "It's rare to design a building for an artifact of this significance," said ZGF partner Ted Hyman. NBC Los Angeles adds the visitor features: a replica flight deck, a Shuttle Descent Slide and a gantry-style lift that rises beside the stack.
Why it matters
Museums usually design rooms and then fill them. Here the order was reversed: the shuttle stack was assembled on site, and photographs from January 2024 show the gallery walls rising around it, so the room is less a container than a fitted case. The diagrid is the honest answer to that brief. A column-free cone is the only way to let people circle a 20-storey object and read it as one thing, and the skin's curve gives a civic building a recognisable silhouette without decoration.
The location matters as much as the form. Exposition Park already holds the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and the new building adds a second major draw to the same park. Free entry and timed slots make this a public building in the full sense, and the governor's office describes the project as a public-private partnership with state investment. The open question is crowding: a free landmark with a single famous object will test how well timed entry spreads the visitors through the galleries. It is one more large civic opening for the region this autumn, alongside the new Burbank airport terminal.
What's next
- 19 October 2026, 9:30 a.m.: reservations open for California Science Center members.
- 21 October 2026, 9:30 a.m.: reservations open to the public.
- 13 November 2026: the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center opens.
More Los Angeles stories are in the Journal's News section.
FAQ
When is the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center opening?
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center opens on 13 November 2026. Free timed reservations open on 19 October for members and on 21 October 2026 for the public.
Where is the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center?
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is part of the California Science Center in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, near the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
Who is the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center architect?
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center architect is ZGF Architects, with structural engineering by Arup and construction by MATT Construction.
Sources
- Space Shuttle Endeavour tickets are nearly ready for lift-off; get details nowNBC Los Angeles
- California Science Center announces grand opening date for new Samuel Oschin Air and Space CenterZGF Architects
- Governor Newsom welcomes first public preview of California Science Center's new Air and Space Center ahead of November openingOffice of Governor Gavin Newsom
- Ready for launch: The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center has an opening dateNBC Los Angeles
