Large Scale Central

Endeavour day in LA

General Discussion
#1

As you West Coasters know, the Endeavour arrived in LA today, after flying over Sacramento, San Francisco, Malibu, Disneyland, et all, then passing over Boeing in Huntington Beach, before flying right over our heads as it headed for the Queen Mary and finally LAX. It seems everyone in Seal Beach and environs turned out and I have to say, as jaded as we are, the flyover gave us a rush. And a warm, fuzzy feeling, the kind we got on our first visit to our nation’s capitol. Is this a great country or what? After all the hot and clear days we had last week, today turned out hazy, with lingering off-shore fog. Not good for telephoto lenses. I used my 70-300-mm, which works out to 480-mm with the 1.6 magnification factor dialed in. The best view was when the craft were approaching, but at that distance my 480 was way too short and I had to crop and Photoshop the heck out of that image to get a usable photo. Then everything was directly overhead, almost too close, before it flew away. The trailing shot is not bad, but ya can’t see the Endeavour as well because it’s on top of the 747. Still, I was there. Enjoy

#2

and it always seems so small when it’s piggybacked.

#3

Wish I could have been there (or in NYC when Enterprise came in). We drove non-stop from Buffalo in November '81 to see one the second test launch of Columbia (STS-2 Engle & Truly). One of the toughest mornings of my life was when we lost Columbia over Texas.

#4

We are east of Edwards AFB where it stayed last night. I was hoping to see it on its way over there but no luck.
About 15 years ago one of the shuttles had landed at Edwards. That Saturday we were headed for the market and I looked out the truck window to see it on the 747. That was an impressive sight.

#5

Very cool. Flew over our house! I saw one of them land a few years back (25+). What a thrill!

#6

WAY COOL!..nice pics Joe!

#7

Just missed seeing it. Flew near us but was too late. Seen Columbia being ferried back a few years ago out at Edwards.

#8

Nice pics, very cool!

Never got to see the shuttle but I did hear a double sonic boom from it entering the atmosphere a few years ago.

#9

Thanks for the compliments and the comments. When you’re anal, like I am, you die a thousand deaths when whatever you do (model railroading, racing, photography, to name a few pastimes) doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped. On the 5-oclock news tonight I saw a bunch of great stuff, most of it from the TV pros, but also some viewer cellphone stuff that was pretty good. But as the say in real estate, it’s all about location, location, location, and here in Seal Beach we were not at the best vantage spot. Still, we did see it and I have my own pictures of this momentuous event so I guess the glass is half full. :slight_smile: