Endeavour On Its Final Mission Through LA

Nasa's space shuttle Endeavour is continuing its final journey, crawling through the streets of Los Angeles towards its permanent home at the California Science Centre museum.

Crowds have been lining the route as the space craft goes on a 12-mile trip to cap off a 23-year career that boasted 25 lift-offs, 4,700 orbits of the Earth and some 123 million miles logged.

Earlier, it stopped its 2mph journey for an hour, as crews prepared it to cross over a major Los Angeles interstate overpass.

Beforehand, it had to be transferred to a special, lighter towing truck.

The shuttle was pulled across the Manchester Boulevard bridge by a Toyota Tacoma pickup, and the car company filmed the event for a commercial, turning the entire scene into a movie set complete with special lighting, sound and staging.

Crews preparing for the crossing had to take down power lines, leaving about 400 residents of the surrounding area without power.

Endeavour is expected to arrive at the museum today.

The short road trip from Los Angeles International airport has not been without controversy, though.

The route was carefully chosen after the options of dismantling the shuttle or lifting it via helicopter were ruled out.

But nearly 400 trees still had to be cut down to make way for the craft's 78ft wingspan, angering environmentalists.

California Science Centre officials say they will spend $2m (£1.2m) planting 1,000 new trees and will maintain them for two years.

One of the trickiest parts involves inching through a narrow residential street, where the craft's wings are expected to intrude into driveways. Residents have been told to stay indoors until the craft passes.

The baby of the shuttle fleet, Endeavour replaced Challenger which exploded during lift-off in 1986, killing seven astronauts.

Last month, Endeavour wowed the US with a farewell tour that began in Florida and included fly-overs of Mississippi, Texas and Arizona.

In California, it made passes over the state Capitol, Golden Gate Bridge, the famous Hollywood sign and other landmarks while strapped to the back of a modified Boeing 747 airliner, before finally landing at Los Angeles airport.