Final Flight, Discovery, 4/17/2012
You'd have to live under a rock today not to know that space shuttle Discovery was being transported to Dulles airport in preparation for its installment in the Udvar-Hazy air & space museum, just across highway 28. The plan was for the flight to make a victory lap between 10-11am around Washington, DC, low & slow, then land at Dulles international.
I live 15 minutes from Dulles airport and the space museum. I set out at 930 to drive to the space museum parking lot. A half hour later I was stuck in traffic along with all the other folks headed toward the airport and only 1/4 of the way there. As i coasted along, I looked out my windshield and doesn't that shuttle just cruise by, low, heading toward the airport? Well, no pictures, but at least I got to see it. Did it land early? No, just starting the circle of the city. Downtown, Washington was all but grid-locked as people stopped along the streets, & came out of workplaces in droves.
Rte 50 was just creeping, and rte 28 where the airport is, was a parking lot. No way I was going to get there. At this point, people are just stopping on the sides of the road, and in parking lots along the way. I was able to get to a service road along rte 50 about 2 miles south of the airport. Had a swell time chatiing with other spectators.
At 1040, the shuttle cruised by, low and slow with a fighter escort. And don't you know, it made a second pass a bit later. What a view! What an experience. I felt like I could reach out and touch it.
On the way home, I found myself reflecting on the significance of this artifact. The brainpower and manpower that conceived of this and brought it to fruition, the courage of those who flew it, indeed the courage of those who imagined it are a testament to the human spirit. It is not about patriotism for me; it is about the astounding magic of human achievement.
Final Flight, Discovery, 4/17/2012
You'd have to live under a rock today not to know that space shuttle Discovery was being transported to Dulles airport in preparation for its installment in the Udvar-Hazy air & space museum, just across highway 28. The plan was for the flight to make a victory lap between 10-11am around Washington, DC, low & slow, then land at Dulles international.
I live 15 minutes from Dulles airport and the space museum. I set out at 930 to drive to the space museum parking lot. A half hour later I was stuck in traffic along with all the other folks headed toward the airport and only 1/4 of the way there. As i coasted along, I looked out my windshield and doesn't that shuttle just cruise by, low, heading toward the airport? Well, no pictures, but at least I got to see it. Did it land early? No, just starting the circle of the city. Downtown, Washington was all but grid-locked as people stopped along the streets, & came out of workplaces in droves.
Rte 50 was just creeping, and rte 28 where the airport is, was a parking lot. No way I was going to get there. At this point, people are just stopping on the sides of the road, and in parking lots along the way. I was able to get to a service road along rte 50 about 2 miles south of the airport. Had a swell time chatiing with other spectators.
At 1040, the shuttle cruised by, low and slow with a fighter escort. And don't you know, it made a second pass a bit later. What a view! What an experience. I felt like I could reach out and touch it.
On the way home, I found myself reflecting on the significance of this artifact. The brainpower and manpower that conceived of this and brought it to fruition, the courage of those who flew it, indeed the courage of those who imagined it are a testament to the human spirit. It is not about patriotism for me; it is about the astounding magic of human achievement.