Who put a model of the Space Shuttle at the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation in Los Angeles Ca?

Question

Background

This answer to Help identifying this landmark and road in "Los Angeles 1940s, Residential Area in color" in Travel SE identified the structure as the:

Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation:

The Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation is in Los Angeles, California. The shrine is a 75-foot-tall (23 m) structure of marble, mosaic, and sculpted figures and is the burial site for fifteen pioneers of aviation. Designed by Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. and sculptor, Federico Augustino Giorgi, it was built in 1924 as the entrance to Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery

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From the linked question:

The NASS video Los Angeles 1940s, Residential Area in color [60fps, Remastered] w/added sound is a processed version of this archived footage.

Starting at about 02:18 a movie camera points backwards from a vehicle driving down a road, pointed at the car behind but also showing few buildings and mountains in the background.

However on the left there is a large, notable building...

Screenshots from the video (click for larger):

Question

Looking in Google maps there's an image that seems to be dated March 2022 https://goo.gl/maps/9igZNqgoJDqxENNS7 that shows a model of the Space Shuttle in front of the monument.

I'm curious who donated and/or build the model and since this is in a mortuary, if there is a commemoration to astronauts who lost their lives flying the Shuttle or in spaceflight in general.

There must be an interesting story here.

Answer 1

It appears the trustees of Valhalla Memorial Park had it placed in 2007 as a memorial to the crews lost in the Challenger and Columbia mishaps.

There's a good summary at Roadside America which states:

In 2007 the Portal was joined by a more modern, just as impressive, companion: a 21-foot-long model of the Space Shuttle (It's big, but not as big as the real thing, which is 122 feet long). Mounted atop some poles, nose up, landing gear down (you can spin the rubber tires), it's positioned as if it's about to land in the cemetery -- because it's a memorial to the crews of the doomed Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia. The insignia for Columbia is painted on its left side, the Challenger on its right. Plaques in the lawn directly below the insignia portray the seven astronauts who perished in their respective spacecraft. The crewmembers aren't buried with the other aviation stars at the Portal, but the Shuttle model serves as their cenotaph.

In keeping with the Rotunda's theme of rebirth, the Space Shuttle memorial is also an example of creative recycling. It is, in fact, a former Hollywood movie prop, used in the ridiculous 2003 sci-fi disaster film The Core, where it played the Space Shuttle Endeavour.