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On Friday, about 800 schoolchildren gathered for the grand opening of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center to marvel at the Endeavour spaceship and explore new exhibits featuring space capsules, Mars rovers, and spacesuits, including one from the Apollo era. They were greeted by astronauts in blue space suits, eager to recount their time in space.

Among them was astronaut-turned-U.S. senator Mark Kelly, for whom Endeavour holds sentimental significance. A veteran of four spaceflights, Kelly flew aboard the spacecraft twice. His first mission came just months after the September 11 attacks.

“We launched in December, right after this horrible tragedy. The spaceship was actually born out of a tragedy: Challenger. This is the replacement for Challenger,” the Arizona Democrat said in an interview.

His second flight aboard Endeavour was equally memorable. While Kelly was in space, his wife, then- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was recovering in the hospital after surviving an assassination attempt. “She was still in the hospital when I was in space,” Kelly recalled. He commanded Endeavour’s final mission. In his Senate office, his spacesuit is on proud display.

The space shuttle Endeavour in its launch position is the centerpiece of the newly-opened Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center in Los Angeles CA.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Kelly hopes the spacecraft will inspire children for generations to come. He describes Endeavour as “the most complicated thing humans have ever built,” hoping to spark interest in math and engineering. “A little kid is gonna say, ‘Wow! People built that, and it went into space. Boy, if people could do that, maybe I can do anything,’ ” Kelly said. “It’s going to motivate children from all over our country to do some hard stuff. So you can’t really put a price tag on this.”

Bringing the gift of Endeavour to L.A. also served as inspiration to Lynda Oschin. When she first saw the 200-foot-tall spacecraft standing upright in its launch position, she was moved to tears. “I just couldn’t believe it,” said Oschin, the wife of the late Samuel Oschin, for whom the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center is named.

When Endeavour was transported from Houston to California, Oschin requested that a photograph of her husband be placed in the commander’s seat. Former NASA head Charles Bolden honored her request. The photograph remains in the cockpit. “It’s there, and it’s framed now, and it’s in there forever,” Oschin said.

For Oschin, the spacecraft represents the memory of her late husband — a devoted patron of math, science and exploration. Today, Endeavour, in launch configuration at the Oschin space center, gives hundreds of children a glimpse of what is possible, Oschin said.

The grand opening and Endeavour reveal began with speeches by Sen. Alex Padilla of California and as well as Sen. Kelly, along with other champions of the exhibit.

“Today is about dreams,” said Jeffrey N. Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center. “Now, Endeavour is in its permanent home.”

Students gather at the entrance to the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center during the ribbon cutting by dignitaries to officially open the museum on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Oschin also took the stage. “This is an incredibly special day,” she said. “It’s all about the children, future, curiosity and knowledge.”

In her speech, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) echoed that message, thanking “all the dreamers, believers, scientists, engineers, scholars, astronauts who had a vision about going to space, and then finding a way to actualize it right here in South Los Angeles.”

She also recalled the extraordinary effort required to bring Endeavour to the museum that began 14 years ago, including the night the spacecraft became stuck on Crenshaw Boulevard during its journey through Los Angeles.

“It was like a party in the streets,” Kamalager-Dove said. “People came from the Valley, Watts, Wilmington, Long Beach — from all over to see this majestic, magical thing that had parked in the middle of a street.”

Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, hundreds of schoolchildren were greeted by astronauts offering high-fives. The children shrieked with excitement as they entered the museum, where the spacecraft awaited them.

Endeavour astronauts high-five and greet students on opening day of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Among the smiling astronauts present was Tom Marshburn, who has spent 330 days in space over the course of his career, including a mission aboard Endeavour. “It’s life-changing. At times, I can’t believe I was there,” Marshburn said of his space travel.

Despite the inherent romance of space travel, the experience is incredibly demanding. “It’s very intense because you’re so busy with so much work to do,” Marshburn said. Still, he found moments to appreciate the experience. “We’re both trying to enjoy the zero gravity, the Earth, the real world. Being there with other people is the most important thing.”

The astronaut hopes Endeavour will continue to inspire children for years to come. “I hope they get a feeling of what human beings can achieve,” he said. “This is the most complex thing ever built by humans, and it has been in space and has come back 25 times.”

Astronaut Julie Payette, who flew aboard Endeavour on her second mission, believes the spacecraft’s influence extends far beyond aspiring astronauts and space enthusiasts.

“We encourage young kids to dare to dream. The dream doesn’t need to be the same as mine or yours,” she said. “This particular exhibit is a testimony to what you can achieve in this field. But it is inspiring for everybody. Everybody loves space.”

She said the most rewarding aspect of being an astronaut is the camaraderie. Born in Canada, Payette has spent her life in Houston at the NASA headquarters. “We don’t actually see the differences in skin color, nationality or the language you spoke when you were a kid,” she said. “We all work together; our survival depends on us working as a team.”

The Endeavour, hovering above hundreds of students, left a memorable impression. Areli Castillo, a 10-year-old who attends Grove Center, said the exhibit has encouraged her to learn more about astronauts. “The spaceship is my favorite part.”

School children reach for switches and buttons on a mockup of the space shuttle Endeavour cockpit during the opening of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Emmanuel Montenegro, a 17-year-old who attends Covina High School, also admired the spaceship. “It’s just so intricately designed and so beautiful,” he said. The student joked that he initially thought the museum visit would simply be a fun excuse to miss class. Instead, he left with a newfound appreciation for astronomy. “Now I want to come here again,” he said. “It interests me.”

Later, television producer Chuck Lorre and “Young Sheldon” star Iain Armitage made the first descent on the shuttle descent slide — a 45-foot drop that represents the shuttle’s descent and landing. Armitage’s appearance sparked a wave of excitement among the crowd, with students cheering and lining up for selfies with the young actor.

At the bottom of the slide, Lorre explained his awe of the spacecraft. “It’s something that’s going to change lives,” he said, gazing upward. “You don’t get happier than getting to be part of this.”

United States Sen. Mark Kelly takes a ride down the Shuttle Descent Slide that simulates the path of the vehicle returning to Earth as a glider.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Armitage was similarly dazzled by the exhibit, explaining that his father was a fan of science fiction films. “Growing up, we would talk about the stars and planets. I’ve always wanted to go, so it’s so cool to get close to that dream by being somewhere like this.”

“The emotional experience you have getting to see the Endeavour in person is insane,” he said. “It’s such a culmination of all these incredible, brilliant minds thinking so technically that it comes together. It makes things so beautiful and so human.”

Times staff writer Laura Zornosa contributed to this report.

The war over California’s elections intensified late this week after three Los Angeles County officials were slapped with criminal grand jury subpoenas related to their handling of thousands of state ballots, which the Justice Department has demanded be set aside amid claims they could be cast by noncitizens.

Labor unions and voting rights groups hit back, sending a fresh wave of action into the tempest of federal lawsuits already swirling around the ballot clawback order. The storm surged back through the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday morning and appeared on a path to the U.S. Supreme Court, which would decide whether to hear the case.

Voting by noncitizens is exceedingly rare, law enforcement experts and elections officials say. Yet the Trump administration has doggedly pursued claims to the contrary. Under the subpoenas, L.A. County officials are being ordered to hand over troves of internal documents — emails, text messages and other material — related to their handling of the administration’s demand to sequester 20,000 contested ballots.

The subpoenas also order them to produce any evidence they may have collected “which tends to indicate an alien has voted.”

Prosecutors charge that widespread noncitizen voting disenfranchises Americans by diluting their lawful votes.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters Dean Logan and hundreds of workers who report to him are heading into Tuesday’s election under the cloud of criminal investigation, with department bureaucrats ordered to appear in federal court in Santa Ana on Wednesday morning.

“Threats and intimidation have no place in elections,” Logan said.

Who has been subpoenaed and what do the orders seek?

So far, at least three workers from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s Office have been summoned as part of the probe, though the Associated Press reported that prosecutors in all four of California’s federal districts were sending out similar orders.

The Justice Department already subpoenaed thousands of voter records from state and local officials related to claims that noncitizens were voting en masse in California. Now, prosecutors are seeking virtually any written communication from within local election offices about how they responded to those demands to identify and remove such voters, including lists of employees who were told of the directive.

Courts have questioned the reliability of the Justice Department‘s list of potential noncitize voters.

Additionally, the workers must hand over any communications — including self-deleting texts from apps such as Signal — related to the office’s efforts to block noncitizen voting.

The subpoena also demands any evidence the city might have collected indicating even a single noncitizen has voted in an election, as well as details about anyone who might have “aided and/or abetted” them.

“When California has actual knowledge of noncitizens in their voter rolls, if they help them vote, they are now aiding and abetting a criminal offense,” California Central District First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli told Fox News this month.

He doubled down with a post on social media this week, saying his office “will hold accountable anyone who unlawfully participates in our elections and those who aid them.”

Is the Los Angeles County registrar of voters under criminal investigation?

Maybe.

Logan has not been subpoenaed, but the subject of a criminal investigation typically is not subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury because the Constitution’s 5th Amendment protects people from having to testify against themselves.

The Justice Department declined to comment on whether or not Logan might be prosecuted.

“While DOJ maintains that a civil remedy is still available, all agree that noncitizen voting is properly addressed through criminal law,” a spokesperson said.

Instead, the threat of prosecution hangs over virtually any worker who processes ballots the Justice Department might seek to contest.

“They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!” President Trump posted on social media as the fight ramped up this month.

A lawsuit filed Thursday on behalf of workers by the Service Employees International Union and its partners called the subpoenas part of “a coordinated campaign to intimidate, threaten, and coerce state and local officials and employees who are engaged in the hard and important work of administering the ongoing midterm 2026 election.”

The union’s suit also alleged that thousands of California voters could be disenfranchised if courts don’t block the federal government’s efforts “to coerce them into halting the processing and counting of ballots.”

“Threatening these election workers with criminal prosecution for faithfully executing their responsibilities in accordance with federal and state law is plainly illegal and, unless enjoined, risks disenfranchising tens of thousands of lawfully registered voters,” the suit said.

Elected officials also rushed to condemn the move.

“The Trump Administration’s escalating attacks on our hardworking elections officials in California are unacceptable,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta wrote on social media.

Can the subpoenas be blocked?

That depends.

An expected order from the Supreme Court could neuter much of the Justice Department’s demand, as the bulk of what officials have been asked to hand over relates to the 20,000 contested ballots whose fate will be decided in Washington, D.C.

The union suit also asks the court to shield election officials from prosecution for counting ballots, which effectively could block the underlying criminal investigation.

Will my vote be counted?

State and local officials have vowed to run the election as usual. The courts have so far supported their effort, with a panel of 9th Circuit judges writing Friday that they “decline the United States’ invitation to contravene the Elections Clause by undermining the Constitution’s plain text.”

The judges — two Trump appointees and one nominated to the bench by President Biden — ruled 2-1 in favor of California.

“If the United States believes different procedures are necessary for vote-by-mail ballots, we believe it should take that suggestion to Congress, not the courts,” the panel held.

That decision, handed down just before noon Friday, all but ensures the issue will reach the Supreme Court and be decided there before polls close Tuesday.

But with hundreds of thousands of ballots already returned and hundreds of thousands more moving through the mail over the weekend, the legal fight still could cause delays. And a ruling for the Justice Department from the Supreme Court could snarl the process further.

“Major concerns remain that granting the United States’ requested relief might result in immense hardship to Defendants and harm the public interest by risking the disenfranchisement of eligible voters and putting the entire tabulation process in jeopardy,” the 9th Circuit panel wrote.

Buried in the language of Proposition 45, the initiative that would overhaul California’s powerful law on environmental review, are provisions that would mean government agencies have to consult only with certain tribes in the state, and not others when they develop major projects.

Tribes that are federally recognized would be consulted; those without recognition would not.

This effort mirrors similar ones supported by tribes that have federal recognition to limit the say of tribes without it in recent years. Non-recognized tribes see it as another move by economically powerful tribes to protect their own interests and avoid having to negotiate with other local tribes over territorial disputes and how to best protect important sites.

“Our concern is that wealthy casino interests and political influence are being allowed to outweigh ancestral connections,” Andrew Salas, chairperson of the Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians — Kizh Nation, said in a statement to The Times.

Proposition 45 on the Nov. 3 California ballot would create a streamlined environmental review process for projects deemed “essential” — including most housing, transportation, water, health, wildfire mitigation, education, internet access and clean energy projects. The streamlining would mean stricter deadlines for review and court challenges, would bar local governments from requesting repeated analyses and allow developers to propose a single alternative with less environmental impact rather than several.

One of the largest contributors to the Yes on Prop 45 committee is a federally recognized tribe, the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, which contributed $750,000.

“Federal recognition is the legal and constitutional foundation of tribal sovereignty and establishes a government-to-government framework for consultation,” Amelia Matier, spokesperson for Yes on Prop 45, said, noting tribes without recognition still can still meaningfully participate alongside members of the public.

The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation reaffirmed its support for the measure in a statement to The Times but did not respond to specific questions.

Critics, meanwhile, say moves such as this would give federally recognized tribes the power to consult on development projects hundreds of miles outside their homelands, overriding local tribes.

“Proposition 45 is part of a much longer struggle over whose voices California chooses to hear,” Salas said. “For decades, non-federally recognized ancestral tribes in Southern California have fought to protect our homelands while facing pressure to accept a ‘lesser role’ than federally recognized tribes.”

“Our rivers, habitats, and the animals that depend on them lose their protection when the people who know these places are removed from the table,” he said.

None of the Gabrieleno and Tataviam tribes within the greater L.A. area have federal recognition.

Last year, three tribes with federal recognition championed a bill that would have significantly limited how tribes without it could participate in the consultation process for all projects — not just the ones deemed “essential” ones under Proposition 45. A few months later, the small state agency that maintains the official list of tribal contacts unveiled a proposal that some non-recognized tribes argued would effectively exclude them. Multiple federally recognized tribes supported the effort.

The environmental review process under the California Environmental Quality Act, better known as CEQA, is one of the primary ways that tribes have a say over how the state and local governments develop land within their ancestral territories. It allows tribes to comment on how a proposed housing or infrastructure project might harm graves, ceremonial grounds or ancient villages. A separate law lets tribes comment on general plans that outline where developers can propose housing, and commercial and industrial facilities.

Tribal consultation differs from general public comment. It allows Indigenous leaders to discuss the location and details of sensitive information — such as burial sites — confidentially, before draft environmental reviews are published.

The Kizh Nation has used the CEQA process to consult on hundreds of land development projects a year around the Los Angeles Basin. In one instance, the process generated extra protections for one of the oldest living plants in the world, a more-than 13,000 year-old oak tree in the Inland Empire, that Indigenous people have taken care of for millennia. It also resulted in the Kizh Nation winning one of the largest land returns in Southern California history for a tribe without federal recognition — while still creating a development of nearly 1,700 homes and industrial and business parks.

There are over 100 tribes in the state with federal recognition, a status that brings protections, funds and services from the federal government, including funding for Indigenous elementary and secondary schools, access to healthcare and the potential for a reservation. Yet dozens more remain unrecognized.

Federal agents negotiated treaties in the 1850s with more than 130 Indigenous communities in the new state of California, setting aside roughly 7% of the state for reservations. But Congress refused to ratify the very treaties it had ordered and failed to notify tribes of its decision.

The federal recognition process today is long and grueling. Only 18 tribes have successfully achieved recognition through it since it was created in 1978. Only one was in California — Death Valley’s Timbisha Shoshone Tribe.

Tribes along the coast who were coerced into building the missions, including the Gabrielino, have had an especially hard time gaining recognition. They endured three waves of settlers: the Spanish, Mexican, and American. With these came death, forced displacement and cultural suppression. When the federal government sent agents to create reservations for California’s mission-affected tribes in the 1890s following reports of dire circumstance, the agents inexplicably overlooked the Gabrieleno.

At least one-third of tribal cultural resources protected under CEQA are in the homelands of tribes without federal recognition, Jonathan Cordero, executive director of the Assn. of Ramaytush Ohlone, estimates.

If Proposition 45 passes, “that means that hundreds of sacred sites and thousands of invaluable and irreplaceable tribal cultural resources would be destroyed in subsequent years,” he said in a statement.