Endeavour being moved. [Archive]

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IndySam

19-09-2012, 08:40

Who's going to be lucky enough to see this?

Here's a look at the flyover schedule for today and on the way to LA (note that times are local NOT EDT):
The flight path will take the aircraft to the northwest, across the Florida panhandle and toward Houston after low-level passes over Stennis in southwest Mississippi at around 8:15 a.m. CDT and Michoud east of New Orleans at about 8:25 a.m. CDT.
Arriving in the Houston area at approximately 9 a.m. CDT, the SCA crew will initiate a 1,500 flyover of various areas of the city, including downtown, before heading to the Clear Lake area. The SCA and Endeavour are predicted to land at Ellington Field at about 10:45 a.m. CDT. Public viewing has been extended to 9 p.m. CDT, since the aircraft will remain in Houston for one night rather than two.
The SCA/Endeavour will depart at dawn on Thursday and make a fueling stop at Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso before proceeding to Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, California. On Friday it will depart Dryden for a flyover of northern California and areas of the Los Angeles basin before landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) between 11 a.m. and noon PDT. In October, Endeavour will move to the California Science Center to begin a new mission inspiring future explorers.

kaliken

19-09-2012, 12:07

Some of the LA teams are right by LAX, here is looking at you 207,294,330,1197,1759 etc.... I personally work fairly close and plan to "try" to get a good view of when it lands. There is a street that the flight path crosses which would be an amazing viewing place. Knowing my luck the street is likely to be closed...:( I could imagine a ton of cars just stopping there backing up traffic... Though I do know some people who work on the high rises that overlook the runway who will be watching!

rlowe61

19-09-2012, 15:45

Went out on the Parking Garage roof this morning in Houston. What a sight. I was impressed with how low they flew over the city.:)
Too bad I have to work would love to have went to Elington Field to se it up close.
:mad:

Barry Bonzack

19-09-2012, 17:52

Got up at 5am this morning to drive to the Cocoa Beach Pier to give a farewell to Endeavour. I decided I got fantastic pictures from the Discovery flyby, and this time I just wanted to enjoy the memory without worry of my camera, but wow, this time instead of just flying along the coast over the ocean, it went right over head!

I have good memories of this obiter, my favorite being the night launch the Saturday after the Florida Regional 2008. I was able to share the experience with a couple good FIRST buddies (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65713) from out of state, and took some other amazing photos (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=716612&postcount=14).

My next favorite memory was a year earlier. I was privledged to witness this shuttle roll out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/28809) in July of 2007, for the first time after the Colombia disaster.

Students.... Please go get inspired. I want to keep exploring.

Ekcrbe

19-09-2012, 22:52

I hadn't heard about this... until I saw it happening! I glanced over at the TV in our cafeteria at school, and saw a shuttle landing. It was quite a surprise, and it's great to hear the whole story behind was was going on.

I then had an immediate nightmare-daydream (daymare?) of 118's robot flying. :ahh:

sanddrag

19-09-2012, 23:21

Anyone have any specific details on the SoCal flight plan or timing, particularly with respect to the JPL flyover? Any idea what direction it will be heading at least?

BHS_STopping

19-09-2012, 23:24

If there are any FIRSTers in Tucson, the shuttle/747 will be flying over the city around noon local time. Mark Kelly made the request so that Gabrielle Giffords could see it for herself one more time. I know I'll definitely try to catch the show!

akoscielski3

19-09-2012, 23:38

Not sure if anyone has seen this (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=434040476632496&set=a.345540992149112.68989.199103730126173&type=1&theater) yet, but it's just simply amazing to me.

I can't explain the picture. you just have to see it for yourself.

Astrokid248

19-09-2012, 23:40

rachelholladay

20-09-2012, 00:25

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A3NNWHNCUAIkvZI.jpg
I just injured four toes walking from Dixie Farm/Highway 3 to the flat top. Totally and completely worth it.

EDIT: Erik, everyone down here thought the same thing.

Man Im jealous. Not of the injured toes but of being that close to it

We are situated right between Stennis and Michoud (and many of mentors come from both sites) so the Shuttle went right over us. I was sitting in physics when we heard a loud, whooshing noise to which the teacher remarked something along the lines of "Oh, there's the shuttle". Unfortunately it was the kind of thing that by the time we could have gotten outside, it would have already been gone..

Ian Curtis

20-09-2012, 01:50

People have done a lot of ridiculous things with the 747, but the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Carrier_Aircraft) is probably the coolest variant. It's too bad no one had the space to leave one of the Shuttles (perhaps the Enterprise?) mounted on one of the carriers. Instead of retiring to a nice air conditioned museum they'll be roughing it out in the desert...

It's just impressive getting to be in the vicinity of the two of them. (http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/380333_3161456114882_1283588718_n.jpg)

The Orbiter/SCA combo gets about 125 feet/gallon! :D

dcarr

20-09-2012, 02:21

I'm happy to be at USC - it's literally coming to rest right across the street from me! While I won't really see any flyovers, I'll get to see it being transported to the Science Center right outside my window!

Botwoon

20-09-2012, 13:46

Kevin Watson

21-09-2012, 12:35

SpaceX is just south of LAX and there will be a few hundred of us on the roof watching it come in for landing. Our 50' roof is the tallest around, so we should have a good view. My wife works at JPL and they get their own flyover too. It'll be a fun morning.

-Kevin

Pat Fairbank

21-09-2012, 15:02

I got to see it this morning at about 10:45 by standing on the roof of my office building in Mountain View. It was awesome!

ChrisH

21-09-2012, 15:17

Saw it make a pass over LAX a few minutes ago from a nice air-conditioned conference room. No cameras allowed though

DampRobot

21-09-2012, 15:24

About an hour ago, it passed over my school. Didn't hear about it though until the next period. Darn!

ChrisH

21-09-2012, 16:14

Got to see the final approach. The actual landing was "behind" a building from where I was. Strange, I got to see the first flight of the shuttle program when Enterprise made it's first drop test. Now I got to see the last landing. Those two events bracket much of my career.

SenorZ

21-09-2012, 16:39

Maybe didn't get as good a view as the Robonauts... but a flyby our school was pretty cool. And at lunch so everyone saw.

Endeavor Flies By Marina High School (http://youtu.be/H10pmIqoHpo)

Kevin Watson

21-09-2012, 17:22

Here's a photo of some of us on the SpaceX roof as we get our own Endeavor fly by (I'm the grey-haired guy on the left):

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/249239285788717058/photo/1/large

-Kevin

EricH

21-09-2012, 17:29

I was across the street from SpaceX in the parking lot of a home improvement store. Got pictures from 3/4 flybys... including the landing one and one that went down to about 200 ft over the runway; I'll have to go through and post some of them.

Edit: Pictures are up in CD-Media.

Botwoon

21-09-2012, 17:46

Here's a picture I got of the shuttle as it flew in over aviation boulevard. (http://i.imgur.com/aBAtF.jpg) It looks like 399 had their 'bot out on the runway too, awesome!

kaliken

21-09-2012, 18:46

snagged a shot right off the beach in Playa del rey. We got to see all the passes from the beach.. plus lounge out in the sand! This was our closest view as it passed LAX the first time. (resized for file limits... probably will link to full version after work)

Kevin Watson

21-09-2012, 19:05

I was across the street from SpaceX in the parking lot of a home improvement store

It musta looked a bit like this one :):

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/249264386420654080/photo/1/large

-Kevin

SarahBeth

21-09-2012, 19:19

These photos are AMAZING. You guys are so lucky that you got to see it that close and personal!

And found these photos from 399 on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.423503171030367.97156.157478744299479&type=1

(One of them may be my new desktop background because WOW).

Joe Ross

21-09-2012, 19:23

I was at the Imperial Ave Hill, overlooking the runway.

JonathanZur1836

21-09-2012, 19:27

My team and I were lucky enough to see it from our school :) We are very close to the Getty center so we saw it circle a few times during lunch, it was really cool. Thank you NASA for this amazing opportunity, the shuttles will be missed.

davidfv

22-09-2012, 03:42

Last year's robot,X-1, watched the takeoff of the SCA and Endeavour and hung out with aircraft at NASA Dryden. The shuttle directly flew over the Lancaster High School, home of Team 399.

http://www.facebook.com/FRC399
https://twitter.com/FRC399/status/249175358396571648/photo/1

Cory

22-09-2012, 04:21

Here are two shots I took from right next to the runway at NASA Ames this morning. The second highlights the skeleton of Hangar One (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangar_One_(Mountain_View,_California))

1 (https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-NYPSetXxH0E/UF10PR7a-DI/AAAAAAAABAs/l1tJ1-jCsaY/s1600/DSC_5127.JPG)
2 (https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-lNLaiycg10g/UF10V2A_krI/AAAAAAAABA0/3gF-Z4xfiws/s1280/622015_650135331712_1199744933_o.jpg)