space shuttle flyover

[sailortats]

Today, on its way to Los Angeles, we had a fly over by the plane carrying the space shuttle Endeavor to its new permanent home in the Los Angeles area. The plane flew quite low and made a couple of passes around the city. It was expected and there were many people waiting for the flyover.
No kilts to be seen and that is why this is in the miscellaneous forum and not the general kilt talk.

[KiltedKnome]

That is such a wonderful photograph. Thank you for sharing.

[LitTrog]

Awww, yeeaaah.

I knew NASA would solve their funding problems! Say Hello to stud fees.

[Oberu]

What an awesome experience! I'd be showing that photo to folks for the rest of my life..

[brewerpaul]

I remember working in San Antonio in the late mid-late 70s and they would touch down at Lackland AFB for re-fuel. It was always and impressive sight to see the shuttle atop at that time a 747. Thanks for sharing the photo and bringing back the memories.

[Cecil]

I am afraid I liked the Shuttle passing over me on its own while returning from space. Its kind of sad that we shut it down without a replacement and now we have to pay for rides with the Russians. Just my two cents.

[CaptHowdy0001]

Awesome photo, well done. I bet it was a blast getting to see it make its rounds before landing.

[Cecil]

Yes it is a great picture. We had a fly over down at Disney World the day it left, but I only got to see it on TV.

[sydnie7]

Beautiful photo and a very cool event. My mother saw both a Florida shuttle launch and a California landing over the years of its operation -- I was always too busy working. Took me too long to learn the lesson of grabbing experiences when you have the chance.

My only related experience (while living in San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles) was being awakened one morning by the most amazing twin sonic booms -- learned later that it was the Blackbird taking off for its final flight to Air Space Museum in DC!

[Deirachel]

I remember working in San Antonio in the late mid-late 70s and they would touch down at Lackland AFB for re-fuel. It was always and impressive sight to see the shuttle atop at that time a 747. Thanks for sharing the photo and bringing back the memories.

That's still a 747. SCA 905 is a 747-100 and SCA 911 is a 747-100SR. SCA911 was retired in Feb 2012, and SCA905 has been formally retired with the delivery of Endeavor. They are now going to be used as spare parts for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a 747SP.

It is a shame we didn't build the replacement shuttle when it was originally intended. The STS system was an interim design, not intended to be our primary manned flight system for nearly as long as it was. It got lost in the tragedy of STS-107, but Columbia (OV-102) was 28 years old, with over 125 million miles of flight. Granted, the main concern is pressurization cycles on jetliners, but it is easily argued this system should have been replaced a decade or more ago (either by next-gen craft or at least new Shuttles).

But, the worst part of "paying the Russians" is we could build and launch capsules from our own facilities using our current expendable launch vehicles with either the Delta IV or the Atlas V (both of which can lift more than the Soyuz-FG in their light variations). The cost would be higher ($140-170 million per launch vs $50 million per astronaut), but that money would be spent internally.

I know some people don't think we should go back to the Moon, but should be heading for the Asteroids and Mars, but I think we need a semi-permanent station on the Moon, internationally run and supported. It would allow us to expand into the rest of the Solar System (easier to lift large loads in a single boost heading out, if we send them in small chunks to Luna, assemble and then the big push).