Bay Area Space Shuttle Fly By

[tim]

I heard the Shuttle being flown to LA would be doing some low passes in the bay area Friday. Does anyone have a reliable schedule and route?

[Greubin]

Re: Bay Area Space Shuttle Fly By

The NASA Ames website states 0900-0930, no route info.

[SkyvanDelta]

Re: Bay Area Space Shuttle Fly By

Try this: http://www.aafo.com/hangartalk/showthread.php?t=10335

Here's an article from the Oakland Tribune online version: http://www.insidebayarea.com/breakin...s-way-bay-area

Space shuttle Endeavour expected to take final flight over Silicon Valley
The Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off Wednesday on its final flight, piggybacking on a 747 across the country toward the Bay Area for a historic flyover Friday on its way to it final destination: a Los Angeles museum.
Endeavour's cross-country farewell flight, which marks an end to the 30-year space shuttle program, left the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and landed at Houston's Ellington Field. Scheduled to leave Houston on Thursday morning, Endeavour makes a pit stop at Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas, before spending Thursday night at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert.
If all goes according to plan and the weather holds, the Endeavour is expected to lift off from Edwards at 7:15 a.m. Friday and head north. So where -- and when -- can you see it?
The flight route includes low-altitude flyovers at several key Northern California landmarks, including the state capitol in Sacramento, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and the NASA-Ames Research Center at Mountain View's Moffett Field.
Other Bay Area viewing spots include Oakland's Chabot Space and Science Center, where a "pajamas optional" viewing party is planned at 8 a.m. for a $15.95 adult ticket price. Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science has a grand view of the Bay Area, and while no program is planned, officials suggest bringing binoculars and $1.50 for parking.Carolyn Billingsley, an administrative assistant at the Hall of Science, said she's been
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following her friends' Facebook posts and tweets as the Endeavour crossed the country this week. She's excited to see it, she said, but "a little sad, too, because I had always hoped to see a real launch."
She hasn't been able to shake the image of the Challenger explosion in 1986, when she stayed home from school in second grade to watch the takeoff. "I always wanted to see a launch in person to offset that memory," Billingsley said. "Maybe being able to bring the shuttle to its new home would be kind of neat."
In what promises to be an iconic photo for the scrapbook, the shuttle is expected to fly over the Golden Gate at 1,500 feet about 8:30 a.m. and head south. By 9:30 a.m., the ferried shuttle is expected to fly over Moffett Field, which is open to the public. Times are subject to change, depending on weather.
The last of 2,500 parking passes at Moffett Field have already been snatched up, however, so organizers encourage people to come as early as 6 a.m. by light rail and bus.
Before the shuttle touches down at Los Angeles International Airport, it will fly by the Getty Center, Griffith Observatory, Malibu and Disneyland. Eventually, Endeavour will settle in at its new home: the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

[SkyvanDelta]

Re: Bay Area Space Shuttle Fly By

Prior thread on the same topic here: http://www.aafo.com/hangartalk/showthread.php?t=10335

[FuryFan]

Re: Bay Area Space Shuttle Fly By

Here's a shot of Endeavour flying over the house just after T/O from Edwards.

Kevin

[Tim Jones]

Re: Bay Area Space Shuttle Fly By

I was at a site on Middlefield Road, in Mountain View, wen it flew by. Damn near down the center of Middlefield. Straight and level, reportedly about 1500 AGL. Purely a lucky moment on my part. View of port side flyby, with near head on approach. Almost like standing on the runway in LA, I'd guess.
SPECTACULAR!!! Never see it again. Couldn't have planned it.

[Jeff E]

Re: Bay Area Space Shuttle Fly By

I live in Aptos Ca and there were lots of people on the beach young and old to see it fly by. It was off schedule but people seems to have internet updates and also family along the way that were saying.. it left Sacramento... its over SF now... etc. human radar with texting. Pretty funny.

It was a little hazy as the marine layer was not completely gone - but it was still cool. Some one stole my 7D and all my lenses last sunday so i dug out my EOS 350 and sigma lens and headed to the beach.

The Shuttle was part of igniting my passion for all things aviation. When i was in 7th grade I joined CAP and my 6th grade teacher flew a few of us down to either Bakersfield, Tehachapi or could have been Mojave in his NA Navion. and then we drove the rest of the way to Edwards and saw the first test flight on the back of the 747.
My teacher was such an absent minded professor (as far as we knew at the time) that he turned the wrong way and we got really close to the shuttle. It was funny. A camper full of Junior High boys and we couldn't believe that we could actually watch from that close!

We all unpacked out of the back and had our little Instamatic cameras snapping pictures, flashes going off all over the place. I remember It was lit up with huge lights in the darkness before the sunrise. Some how security knew we where there and arrived in a rush. They packed us all back inside the camper and escorted us to the public viewing area where the Space Shuttle was once again just a dot. Everyone was somewhere between giddy with excitement and fear. The security could have scared us pretty good, but they were more intrigued with... How in the world did you find your way to this spot?

Soon we saw the Enterprise (Designated OV-101) carried into the air by the 747 and fly safely back to earth.

Once we got home I took my film to the drug store to get it developed. About a week later I got back 20 shots. Seven were all black from the night shots. 2 in the back of the camper of every one piled in. 1 of a kid puking after we landed. 9 of blue sky with a black and white dot in the center and one of the shuttle in the morning light sitting on the back of that silver 747. I tried to find it to post it here but we just moved and its in all my RC stuff.

But here is the hazy shot from yesterday.. It was cool to be able to see the first and the last.
peace...
jeffe