Endeavour Fly-By at Moffett Field
Endeavour Fly-By at Moffett Field
The space shuttle Endeavour made a fly-by over Moffett Field here in town yesterday on its historic final flight to retirement at a museum in Los Angeles. It was a bittersweet end to its 123-million-mile journey, having orbited the earth 4,671 times during its two decades of service.
NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field played a big role in the shuttle program. Not only did they help develop the heat-resistant tiles for the shuttle, but their wind tunnel also tested the shuttle’s aerodynamics, their supercomputers calculated how much ice buildup on the shuttle fuel tanks was safe, and their vertical flight simulator was used by every shuttle crew for training. So the fly-by was a fitting tribute to the work done by the skilled and dedicated men and women of NASA-Ames.
I was too ill to leave the house, but D. went and got some good pics. Here's a few of his.
Welcome to NASA Ames.
Historic Hangar One, being restored.
Birds on the runway.
It's a bird . . . it's a plane . . . it's a shuttle!
Flying over Hangar One.
Endeavour, on its specially modified jumbo jet.
Flying on, making its way south to its new home in Southern California at the California Science Museum in Los Angeles.
The space shuttle Endeavour made a fly-by over Moffett Field here in town yesterday on its historic final flight to retirement at a museum in Los Angeles. It was a bittersweet end to its 123-million-mile journey, having orbited the earth 4,671 times during its two decades of service.
NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field played a big role in the shuttle program. Not only did they help develop the heat-resistant tiles for the shuttle, but their wind tunnel also tested the shuttle’s aerodynamics, their supercomputers calculated how much ice buildup on the shuttle fuel tanks was safe, and their vertical flight simulator was used by every shuttle crew for training. So the fly-by was a fitting tribute to the work done by the skilled and dedicated men and women of NASA-Ames.
I was too ill to leave the house, but D. went and got some good pics. Here's a few of his.
Welcome to NASA Ames.
Historic Hangar One, being restored.
Birds on the runway.
It's a bird . . . it's a plane . . . it's a shuttle!
Flying over Hangar One.
Endeavour, on its specially modified jumbo jet.
Flying on, making its way south to its new home in Southern California at the California Science Museum in Los Angeles.