Yesterday I had planned to spend some of our school day focusing on the events of 9-11. Around 1 o'clock my husband called and told me that the Space Shuttle Discovery was landing on base and did we want to come and watch. The answer was of course yes! So we drove down to Edwards and watched the Discovery return to earth after it's 2week, 5.7 million mile journey in space. We had seen it land before in the past, the last time being about 5 years ago. My youngest had no recollection of ever having seen it and she enjoyed it so much! This time around we seemed to have been able to be closer than times in the past, only about 1/2 mile from the runway it landed on. When we heard the double sonic boom we started to search the sky for the shuttle. After spotting it high up we watched as it circled and lined up with the runway. It's amazing how quickly it descends. It was a really great experience, I just wanted to share.
That great! Back in the spring, Atlantis made an unexpected landing in San Antonio. We hurried over to the AFB to see it. We didn't get to see it land, but saw it take off. Still incredible to see!
What a fantastic experience! Events like that can create a lasting impression on children. Ours still remember when, at the time we lived in south Florida, we stayed up late to try to see a shuttle launch - even though we were over a hundred miles away. In this case, you were right there!
I remember when I lived in CA as a kid and one of the space shuttles landing we all tried to see it but to us it was just a fast moving dot. thats a really neat set of pictures, I showed my son.
Thanks everyone. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures, I was excited to be able to share our experience with you all. I think it would be incredible to watch it take off too, space travel is just so interesting. My kids were really interested this time as well and they asked a ton of questions about the shuttle and how it worked. We had some great conversations about it while waiting.
DH reminded me that when the shuttles land in Edwards they often stop here when piggybacking to refuel.... at the air base right down the street.
