LOS ANGELES — A massive space shuttle fuel tank squeezed through the streets of Los Angeles and loomed over vehicles on a busy freeway Saturday to join the retired orbiter Endeavour on display at the California Science Center.

The 33-ton, 154-foot-long external propellant tank began moving a few minutes after midnight from coastal Marina del Rey, where it arrived by barge Wednesday, to the California Science Center in downtown Los Angeles.

A couple takes a selfie as a massive space shuttle external fuel tank, the last one in existence, moves past on a street in Inglewood, Calif., en route from Marina Del Rey to the California Science Center in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday. The Associated Press

The orange-brown, sausage-shaped tank – the last of its kind – is traveling by truck at 5 mph. By early morning, it had moved through suburban Inglewood. Crews trimmed a few trees and unbolted a stoplight pole and turned it so the arm wouldn’t hit the towering tank.

Freeway drivers got a shock as the tank rolled by on a bridge over Interstate 405, an artery west of downtown.

The shuttle was escorted by police, a fire truck and a crew of city officials as it passed through south Los Angeles taco shops, car washes and strip malls. Many people stood with their cellphones, trying to capture the perfect shot – and a selfie.

“When you look at the people who are out here, it’s little kids, it’s older folks, it’s white folks, it’s black folks, it’s Latino folks,” said Shelly Arsneault of Whittier. It’s everybody. It’s cool. It’s LA.”

Children, a few wearing home-made space helmets, were enthralled.

Cindy Hernandez, 11, of Inglewood said the tank was “amazing.”

“It’s this next generation of explorers. These kids are going to remember today their whole lives. And they’re going to think about it when they choose their career paths. They’re going to study harder in school. And it’s going to make us happy,” said astronaut Mike Fincke, who flew on the Endeavour’s final flight in 2011.

The tank will be displayed upright along with the shuttle and two solid-rocket boosters, as if ready for takeoff.

The journey was expected to take 13 to 18 hours to squeeze down 161/2 miles of streets,.

The trek drew smaller crowds than the journey of the 122-foot-long Endeavour. With a wingspan of 78 feet, the orbiter was similarly hauled 12 miles to the center from Los Angeles International Airport. Extensive preparations for Endeavour’s trek included removing trees, street posts and other obstacles, but that journey still took about 17 hours longer than planned.

Although longer, the external tank is narrower than the shuttle, with a diameter of 27.5 feet.

The tank was shipped to California by barge from a NASA facility in Louisiana. Known as ET-94, it was NASA’s last flight-qualified external tank, but it was never used before the shuttle program ended. .

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