Space Shuttle Endeavour
 

One of the perks of working at NASA...

Endeavour, perched on the back of a 747, paid us a visit on its way back to Florida. They circled the Mission Control Center here at the Johnson Space Center for an hour a little while ago, making about a dozen passes. Really, really, low...

Awesome. First time I've seen it in person.

Tom

I had a sighting like that a few years back, when they did the same kind of fly over at WPAFB near Dayton, Ohio...flew around and around over the area for awhile.

It was exciting and amazing..:yahoo:

I guess a picture would be in order.

The building is part of the mission control complex.

Tom

Awesome is right, Tom.:cool:

Our first time to see it was in 1985. They did a refueling stop at Offutt AFB, NE with Columbia. We got to watch the landing and takeoff... was truly amazing.

the shuttles are truly amazing,

former shuttle cmdr mcbride was our neibor in the 70s and we were there when he got picked for the shuttle service as one of the first original pilots.
he is the godfateher of my younger brother.

how cool is that.


roger.

that was cool, Tom ... saw that on the news with the shuttle on the wing!

Tom,
Is there a video anywhere that shows them loading the shuttle on the plane? that would be awesome to see how they crane it up there. Pit that in the "suggestion box" I'd buy that DVD

Thanks Tom!

I saw it once when we lived in Florida - we lived on the west coast but they came right over the house - what a sight!!

Thanks Tom! We never get to see cool stuff like that in VA all we have are navy boats and subs. PS the gov't gets a little peeved when you decide to fish over top of their subs

tom, i have a Q.
how do they get the shuttle on top of the plane?

and, couldn't they have waited to land in Fl til the weather cleared.
i heard it cost over 1 million $$$$ to get the shuttle back to FL from CA.

thanks.

Link to how they get the shuttle up on the 747:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sh...ry_flight.html

thanks, that's very interesting.
do you know how the plane carries the weight of the shuttle on top of it and still manages to fly?

Well according to this article: http://www.nasa.gov/news/special/747...rriers_prt.htm It's all about balance.

That and a bunch of structural details that go way over my head :D.

Gives you chills, doesn't it? We saw it about eight years ago in Tucson. While walking across a parking lot, the plane with the space shuttle flew over low and slow. For a few seconds, I didn't know what in the world I was seeing. Then, it hit me what I was looking at. Everyone was in awe. :)

Wow Roger. That is pretty impressive. Really cool!!! I don't know what a godfateher or a neibor is but it must be exciting!

I'm out of here. Roger - ya already screwed up one site. What the hey are you doing here???????????????????????????????/

Tom