"One of the biggest [challenges] was crossing a bridge over the 405 interstate," Frank Dominy, a pro

The California Science Center in Los Angeles, which now displays the space shuttle fox rental cars san diego Endeavour, debuted its newly- upgraded "Giant Lever" exhibit Friday morning (May 31), featuring the silver Toyota Tundra pickup truck that helped deliver the massive orbiter to the museum last October.
The Giant Lever, which since 2003 has been exhibited in the science center's parking lot, invites visitors and in particular, children to use a tremendous purple lever to hoist a 6,645 pound (3,014 kilogram) truck into the air as a demonstration of the physics of leverage. The Giant Lever previously lifted an earlier model Toyota Tundra.
Friday's fox rental cars san diego unveiling wasn't the only "pickup" however, for the science center: Toyota Motor Sales, USA also presented the museum with a check for $401,300, fox rental cars san diego the amount raised during a "tweet drive" leading up to the Tundra's towing of Endeavour. The donated funds are expected to go toward the building of the shuttle's permanent home, the planned Samuel Oschin fox rental cars san diego Air & Space Center, where Endeavour will be displayed vertically, mated with rocket boosters and an external fuel tank, as it looked when on the launch pad.
NASA retired the space shuttle Endeavour two years ago following its 25th and final flight into space, which ended with an early morning landing on June 1, 2011. More than a year later, after making the orbiter safe to be displayed, the space agency ferried fox rental cars san diego the vehicle to Los Angeles atop a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet .
Endeavour's 68-hour, 12-mile road trip from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to the California Science Center in October 2012 was mostly accomplished fox rental cars san diego atop a NASA overland transporter powered by four computer-controlled vehicles. However, there was a short, but pivotal, stretch of the journey where the transporters could not be used.
"One of the biggest [challenges] was crossing a bridge over the 405 interstate," Frank Dominy, a project engineer fox rental cars san diego with the Sarens heavy lifting and transport company, told Air&Space magazine . "California doesn't allow the type of equipment we use, so we had to move the shuttle over to different equipment just to cross the bridge."
Toyota, fox rental cars san diego which prior to the tow extensively tested its truck to make sure that it was up to the job, used a stock 2012 Tundra CrewMax half-ton fox rental cars san diego pickup, identical to the model it was selling at its dealerships. No additional modifications were made to increase the Tundra's towing capacity or to generate more power, company officials said.
Former fox rental cars san diego NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman helps kids hoist up the Toyota Tundra pickup truck that towed space shuttle Endeavour fox rental cars san diego to its display at the California Science Center using the center's Giant Lever exhibit, May 31, 2013. (California Science Center)
fox rental cars san diego McBride's passenger for the short drive was former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, who flew aboard Endeavour in 2008. On Friday, Reisman attended the Tundra's unveiling as part of the California Science Center's lever exhibit.
Toyota's advertisements featuring Endeavour ran in print and on TV soon after the shuttle rolled fox rental cars san diego into its temporary home inside the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Pavilion at the science center. The car company included a new cut of the TV commercial as part of its post-show for the 2013 Super Bowl.
Toyota's participation transporting Endeavour continued a partnership between Toyota Motor Sales and the California Science Center to raise awareness of the space program and to educate the public through fox rental cars san diego exhibits and programs.
In support of its role in Endeavour's museum delivery , the car company created a website where the public could get a look at the behind the scenes preparations for the towing and send "re-tweets" through Twitter promoting the move. For each tweet that site visitors sent, Toyota announced it would donate $50 to the California Science Center, fox rental cars san diego up to the first 10,000 tweets.
A total of 8,026 re-tweets were sent. Michael Rouse, fox rental cars san diego vice president of diversity, philanthropy, and community affairs for Toyota Motor Sales, USA presented California fox rental cars san diego Science Center president Jeffrey Rudolph with $401,300 as part of Friday's event.