(Above: Endeavour makes its way through Los Angeles on the way to its permanent home at the California Science Center. Photo Credit: Mike Killian / Zero-G News)

Early Friday morning NASA’s retired space shuttle Endeavour will begin the final phase of its move to California: a two-day road trip from a United Airlines hangar at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) through the streets of Los Angeles to her final destination at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

Photo Gallery: Space shuttle Endeavour's move to the California Science Center

(Above: Flying high over Cocoa Beach Pier, the 920th Rescue Wing demonstrates mid-air refueling of an HH-60 Pavehawk search and rescue helicopter. Credit: Mike Killian / Zero-G News)

This past weekend saw the return of the Florida Space Coast’s annual Cocoa Beach Air Show.  Tens-of-thousands of people turned out to enjoy the sights and sounds, and also to cheer on their local combat search-and-rescue airmen – the 920th Rescue Wing from nearby Patrick Air Force Base, the “guardian angels” who kept watch over NASA’s astronauts for so many years.

See our entire photo gallery from this year's airshow

First hop of the SpaceX reusable launch vehicle suborbital testbed "Grasshopper" at McGregor Texas. Source: SpaceX

NASA has selected 26 proposals from academia and industry for advanced development activities for the nation's next heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). Proposals selected under this NASA Research Announcement (NRA) seek innovative and affordable solutions to evolve the launch vehicle from its initial configuration to its full lift capacity capable of sending humans farther into deep space than ever before.

The two Mars images were obtained by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The Vesta image was obtained by Dawn's framing camera. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/MPS/DLR/IDA/JHUAPL

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has revealed the giant asteroid Vesta has its own version of ring around the collar. Two new papers, based on observations from the low-altitude mapping orbit of the Dawn mission, show volatile, or easily evaporated, materials have colored Vesta's surface in a broad swath around its equator.

Ride - fall and swim - along with the United States Air Force Reserve pararescue personnel as they jump out of an HC-130P/N Hercules aircraft and parachute into the ocean off Cocoa Beach, Florida to in a demonstration of search and rescue techniques. This video was captured by a GoPro Hero 2 HD camera worn by one of the reservists during the jump.

(Photo Credit: Mike Killian / Zero-G News)

Early this morning crews at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility backed out the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, from the mate-demate device (MDM).  With the now retired space shuttle Endeavour attached to the top of NASA 905 (the SCA's official designation), the unique pair are ready to begin their cross country flight across the southern United States to Los Angeles this Tuesday - weather permitting.

Click here to see more Endeavour and SCA photos from today