Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building the tail cone is being built up for installation on space shuttle Endeavour.

Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the tail cone is being built up for installation on space shuttle Endeavour. The tail cone protects space shuttle main engines during ferry flights on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA.

The work is part of Transition and Retirement of the remaining space shuttles, Endeavour and Atlantis. Endeavour is being prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Its ferry flight to California is targeted for mid-September. Endeavour was the last space shuttle added to NASA’s orbiter fleet. Over the course of its 19-year career, Endeavour spent 299 days in space during 25 missions. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann