I took a few pictures on approach but knew that nearly every other person parked on that road was a better photographer with better equipment than mine, so once it got close I put down my camera and just watched. All this was roiling in my head as I watched NASA 905 turn in the west and then return to the eastern end of the runway. One that we can plan, and build, and accomplish, just as we did Apollo and the Space Station.Īnyway. Just like many of the people involved in the Shuttle program. Although it's nice to know that they'll be of some further use, it's sad that these and likely many other perfectly good NASA aircraft will end their careers with the end of the Shuttle program. I learned today that NASA 905 and its sister, NASA 911, which will after tomorrow have no more Shuttles to ferry, are going to be used by the SOFIA program - for spare parts. All of these painted white with blue stripes and the NASA logo. There was the C-9 pathfinder, and there were a couple of F-18s flying around, shooting in-air video. It wasn't just NASA 905 there was a T-38 chase plane, and one I think that came in way ahead. I wasn't dwelling on the end of Endeavour's mission, but I was struck by the number of other aircraft involved in Endeavour's cross-country journey. To me this is a ship that's served her mission well and now has reached that mission's end the thing to be sad about is the fact that we don't even really know what the next mission is, nevermind having a ship that can take us there. I know that a lot of you readers and Twitter followers are sad about the end of the Shuttle program, but that was one thing I wasn't really dwelling on as I watched NASA 905 carry Endeavour across Edwards. The Shuttle is not all that much smaller than the 747 it seems crazy that a regular old passenger airplane, even a modified one, can carry the not-particularly-airworthy Shuttle on its back. First and foremost, it's cool: a thing that has actually been to space and back, and it's being carried by a jumbo jet that once actually saw passenger service (this one began its life with an American Airlines paint job and came to NASA in 1974). My feelings upon seeing it were complicated. Suddenly, it became a white shape as it banked to turn and fly low over the air force base, giving all its residents a good view. The landing of NASA's C-9 Pathfinder indicated that NASA 905's arrival was imminent the plane came in slowly, slowly from the east, a dark dot with occasional glints. And a distant sighting of a B-1.īut the main event was, of course, the arrival of the big 747 airplane with the Shuttle stacked on top. In the meantime, we were treated to a pretty nice air show: touch-and-gos by T-38s, takeoffs and landings of F-16s, F-18s, a C-130, and an F-22. I and the other hundred or so media were parked on a dirt access road parallel to the main runway for a couple of hours before the shuttle arrived. I drove up to Edwards Air Force Base today to see the shuttle carrier aircraft NASA 905 carry in the space shuttle Endeavour, which will be delivered to Los Angeles tomorrow.
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