Online comment sections were filled with Tundra owners celebrating their American-made vehicle and what it just accomplished. Buzz flowed onto Twitter, where the tow generated 121 million impressions.

The towing of Space Shuttle Endevour was also a success with those in the market for a truck. Year over year Tundra sales rose 22%, despite no major overhaul of the vehicle itself.

At the foot of the Manchester Overpass, Space Shuttle Endeavour would be removed from its carrier and towed across the freeway by a stock Toyota Tundra. An online documentary series tracked the truck's preparation in the weeks leading up to this historic job. News outlets across the country ran stories about how a half-ton truck was planning to tow a 175-ton Space Shuttle.

On October 12, 2012, thousands of spectators lined the streets to watch the historic moment in person. With news helicopters broadcasting it live from above, Tundra successfully hitched Endeavour, and towed its way into history.

The tow was covered by news outlets including The Los Angeles Times, Jalopnik, Popular Science, and USA Today. Over 1 million people watched it on YouTube.

The Toyota Tundra was an underdog. Despite its top of the line parts and class-leading specs, truck buyers had never given Tundra the respect they offered its better-selling peers. To show truck buyers what it was capable of, it needed to complete a job so big that it proved Tundra could do practically anything.

Space Shuttle Endeavour was in the process of moving from its current home in Houston to its place of retirement at the California Science Center. A massive, computerized carrier would bring Endeavour from its arrival point at the Los Angeles Airport to its storage hangar downtown, however a stretch of overpass in mid-route was not strong enough to support both Endeavour and its heavy carrier. They were going to need something both incredibly light, and incredibly strong. That's where Tundra came in.