Space Shuttle Endeavour’s California Flyover & Final Flight,This Thursday Morning
Come out to see the space shuttle! Before Endeavour retires to its permanent home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, this Thursday morning during its ferrying flight across the country it is to depart from Edwards Air Force Base, fly over Sacramento and San Francisco, including Moffett Field, before a scheduled 11am landing at LAX.
These 1,500-foot flyovers on the back of the SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747) are meant to share Endeavour with the public. The exact routing and timing isn’t published yet, and the schedule is dependent on the weather.
On its way west, the Endeavour will also do low flyovers at White Sands Missile Range and the city of Las Cruces, NM. I’m planning to drive down from Albuquerque on Sept. 19 (along with my parents, my brother and his wife) to see it. Should be pretty cool!
I can see I won’t get much work done Thursday morning. Unfortunately, I work about 20 miles east of downtown Sacramento, so who knows if it will fly near enough for me to see it…
20mi isn’t too far away so you might get a decent view. I hope it isn’t a hazy / smoggy day for you.
I work in downtown Sunnyvale, close to the landing glide path into Moffett Field. I’ve talked with the maintenance guy and he’ll let me onto the roof. I should get some good pictures.
Nasa has postponed the Florida departure by one day. It shouldn’t affect the rest of the trip, however, as there was to be a one-day layover in Houston (Tuesday, Sept. 18) which has been eliminated.
I think you’re in luck! I believe they are planning to spend the night of the 19th at Edwards before continuing on with the final leg of the journey on the 20th.
This sounds like a neat thing to see, but I cannot express my disgust strongly enough about the decision to *cut down trees *along the route to get it to the museum. :mad:
They pushed back the departure another day. Now they’ll have to come up with a new schedule. I hope the New Mexico flyovers don’t get eliminated, I was really looking forward to that.
The latest press release from NASA says they will be keeping the same schedule of stops & flyovers, just pushed back one day. So now Endeavour should be arriving in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 21 (after the San Francisco & Sacramento flyovers).
I need to keep a close eye on the timing for the Moffett Field flyover. I work just a couple of miles away and I can take an early lunch to go out and see it. I need to do a scouting trip tomorrow to find a good spot to watch from. (I can get up on the roof of our building with no problem, but I think we’re too far away for a decent view)
Assuming that you can’t get onto the roof of any tall building other than where you work, I’d think some wide-open nearby place might be best, unencumbered by any clutter of surrounding buildings. Shoreline Park perhaps.
Whatever day it ends up being, the Moffett Field flyover should be between 9:00 and 9:30. These are rough times so I plan on being staged by 8:30.
There are several open space areas near the now-closed Onizuka Air Force Base (the “Blue Cube”). On the west side of the cube there are large parking lots and empty construction sites. north of Hwys 101 and 237.
That’s closer than Shoreline Park, and puts you right next to Moffett’s runway.
So they’re going to fly it from southern Ca. up to northern Ca. and then back down to southern Ca if I’m reading this right?
Is there any information about what route they may follow? I’ve just read several articles and I’m not seeing much. Will they fly it over the San Joaquin Valley? Will it pass over (or near) Bakersfield, or Fresno, or Modesto or Stockton on the way from Edwards to Sacramento?
Will it fly over a more coastal route on the way back down? Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, for example?
I work on the 40th floor of a high-rise in Downtown LA, and they’re supposed to be flying over City Hall on Friday morning. The coworkers and I are pretty damn excited; we ought to have a great view.
I work at the top of a 6-floor building in downtown Sunnyvale that’s on the landing glide path for Moffett Field. Around here, 6 stories is the tallest building around. My window faces Moffett. I should have a good view of it tomorrow.
I think I’m going to try the Moffett Bay Trailas my vantage point. I have to keep an eye on the twitter feed so I can run out there and catch the flyby window. I just hope the trailhead parking lot isn’t jammed full.
