We got a rare opportunity this afternoon to see the Space Shuttle touch down at Edwards Air Force Base. It was about a 45 minute drive from our house to the viewing area, and we were by no means all alone. Many other families took the time to drive out too, some complete with motorhomes and picnic tables.
My mom, who is a nurse for NASA and was waiting to recover the astronauts from the shuttle, called about 5 minutes before it landed and said, "They're coming in from the west!" We didn't quite understand all that entailed, but kept our eye generally to the west. Problem was, our eyes were looking too high in the sky! It was almost too late before we realized that "coming in from the west" meant that the shuttle wouldn't be circling over our heads before landing, but instead would be coming straight toward us on the horizon. At the last minute, we heard people around us shouting, "It's almost on the ground!!" and sure enough, we spotted it just before it touched down.
It was neat to be there and experience a landing, even though we didn't get to see it come down from the sky. My mom will be- no exaggerating- living at work for the next two weeks while the shuttle is here. They'll get it all fixed up and ready to fly back to Florida on the 747. Until then, I'm hoping for a chance to get up close to the shuttle if they have any public tours. And next summer we get to go to Florida to see a launch!!
Blogger is sort-of a pain to use for a lot of photo uploading, but I've posted my photos on my facebook page. You can see them using this link, even if you don't have a facebook account. Enjoy!
1 comment:
what an experience!
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