I was there! Pics from Space Shuttle Discovery's arrival at the Smithsonian

[EarlG]

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to get to see Space Shuttle Discovery's fly-by of Washington DC. I shared some pictures of that event in the Lounge, so I thought I'd give General Discussion a turn.

On Thursday morning my family visited the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, which is the extension of the Air and Space Museum out near Dulles Airport in Virgina, to see the arrival of Space Shuttle Discovery. My wife took all of these great pics, although to be fair there are a few at the end where she was sitting on my shoulders so I think I deserve some points.



Here's Enterprise (the prototype Shuttle which was used to test descent and landing but never actually flew in space) waiting outside the Center. Enterprise has been at Udvar-Hazy for many years but will be heading for New York now that Discovery has arrived.



Senator John Glenn -- the first American to orbit the Earth, and the oldest man to fly in space (on Discovery in 1998) -- arrives for the ceremony.



The band arrives.



Here comes Discovery...



That's enough patriotic music for now, chaps.



Here's something you don't see every day.











Eventually they backed Enterprise up and brought Discovery into its new home.



They weren't quite aligned right the first time so they had to back up and try again.



A glimpse at the underside of Discovery's wing through a side door of the hangar.



I just liked this picture.



Discovery from inside the hangar.





There you have it. If you're ever in the DC area I highly recommend a visit to Udvar-Hazy by the way. IMO it blows away the Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. Plus now you get to see Discovery!

[nmbluesky]

1. COOL

Thank for the pictures...

[joshcryer]

2. Great pics. :)

[klook]

3. Look at 'em checking each other out!

What happens when they mate??

Nice pics, thanks for sharing!

[Fawke Em]

60. Apparently, Enterprise is a stay-at-home Mom.

(See downthread)

[Kadie]

4. Wonderful pictures!

Thank you so much for sharing.

[JNelson6563]

5. That's as cool as it gets.

Awesome.

[Vehl]

6. Awesome pics!

Thanks for sharing.
I wish I was there to check these birds out

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Its great to see that Annie Glenn is there with the Senator

They were married in 1942 or 1943 (not sure). That's just so perfectly wonderful.

[Gman]

8. So that's where the Enterprise is

I was thinking about it while all the talk was going on about Discovery. I saw it fly into Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio after its (I believe) only flight which was unmanned.

Great pics of an awesome moment.

[neverforget]

9. Fantastic pictures!

Sad though that the Shuttle era has come to an end.....

[Webster Green]

10. Very nice pics!

Thanks for posting these.

[arcane1]

11. I love how used and dirty it looks

And I love the memory of seeing the Enterprise land

[Jeroen]

43. I Agree. Hopefully they keep her that way! n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

12. "You back up!" "No, YOU back up!"

[Control-Z]

13. Who do you know

to have gotten such a close, up front, presidential view?
Exactly who are you, EarlG? What have you been keeping from us? Lol.

Great pics! I'm envious.

[EarlG]

18. Lol

I know it kinda looks like that but actually we just got there really early and managed to get a good spot. Plus, like I said, for a few of those shots my wife was sitting on my shoulders

There was actually a pretty large crowd but Udvar-Hazy is so big that it felt nicely spread out and it wasn't hard to get a good view. There was a lot to see and do, so people were moving in and out of the Center which gave everyone a chance to get close to the Shuttles, which were on display outside from 9 in the morning till about 4 in the afternoon.

Here's a pic I took shortly after we got there, the crowd got significantly larger as time went on:

[Control-Z]

27. Open to the pubic?

No security even right up by the hangers and shuttles? Wow. I had no idea. Of course, I'm in Cali so it would not have mattered for me. There are times when I wish I had moved to DC when I considered it a few years ago. It would be so much closer to a lot of exciting historical events.

[pinboy3niner]

29. Don't worry--Endeavor comes to L.A. in September (and it will parade through the streets in October)

NASA 905, which in preparation for its museum deliveries was amended with painted mission markings showing the tally of all of its ferry flights, will fly its last space shuttle, Endeavour, to Los Angeles in September. The orbiter will then be rolled over land to the California Science Center the following month.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46956131/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Space Shuttle Endeavour To Be Displayed At CA Science Center
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/04/12/space-shuttle-endeavour-to-be-displayed-at-ca-science-center/

[Art_from_Ark]

14. That is SO cool!

Wow! As someone who became fascinated with space during the Gemini/Apollo era, I wish I could have been there!

[abelenkpe]

15. Whoa! Nice pics

That's so close to where I grew up. Really need to bring my kids back east sometime to check it out and all the stuff on the mall as well.

[Fawke Em]

16. Wonder why Discovery is so much more burned and banged up

than Enterprise?

Great shots, though!

I spent all my summers as a teen at my Dad's house near Redstone Arsenal and the Space and Rocket Museum. I walked through Columbia when it was on display.

I'll miss this program that was so near and dear to my heart.

[EarlG]

17. Enterprise was the first Shuttle but it never flew in space

They took it up on the back of a 747 and then dropped it to see if it could land successfully. Discovery on the other hand went up 39 times (more than any other Shuttle). They made a deliberate decision not to clean it up for display at the musem -- it's really cool, you can see all the grime and burn marks on it.

[progressoid]

20. That's cool that they left it in it's "used" condition.

Certainly doesn't look like the Hollywood versions!

[abelenkpe]

47. Hey!

Ok, you're right.

[csziggy]

24. In the nose to nose picture, Discovery is saying "Poser!" to Enterprise!

Thanks for the pictures - they were great. I wish I could have been there, too!

[Fawke Em]

59. I like that they left the grime.

As I said, I was a young girl during the development of the Shuttle, so, while I remember it vividly, I don't remember every detail of each mission.

Thanks for clearing my memory. I, honestly, don't "remember" Enterprise, but I remember Columbia, Discovery and Challenger.

[libodem]

19. Wonderful pictures

[jwirr]

21. I must confess I have never been particularly interested in the space program but somehow I am

feeling very emotional about these pics. Guess somewhere deep down I must have been more proud than I thought. Thank you for the pics.

[gateley]

22. Waves of chills just looking at the pics -- I can only imagine what it was like in real

life!

Thanks for slummin' and dropping by GD to share!

[Starry Messenger]

23. I've got something in my eye. :*)

Great pictures. Thank you for documenting this!

[FogerRox]

25. phreaking great pics Earl

End of an era

[Control-Z]

28. A lot of eras seem

to have come to an end lately. Or perhaps they are all part of the same. Saw a clip of Teddy Kennedy today on one of the MSNBC shows. He was as big as the space program, imo. Kind of feels the same, if you know what I mean.

[Lugnut]

26. Wow!

The pictures are breath taking. Thanks for sharing, EarlG.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

30. GREAT pics!

And, I really liked the one you just liked, too...The geometric lines are beautiful and fascinating!

I also found the picture of Discovery from inside the hangar very wonderful...

SO glad you could be there, when so many of us could not.

[FirstLight]

31. okay...WAY cool!!!!!!

it's sooooo amazing to see the burns and stuff on the Discovery, compared to the pretty prototype...wow, that thing was in space and made the trip back more than a few times! Profound thoughts... beautiful pics...thanks so very much for sharing, it must have been amazing to be there !!!!

[Cooley Hurd]

32. You can tell which shuttle is the space veteran...

I'm glad they didn't clean up Discovery after her final mission.

Awesome pics, EarlG!

[madokie]

33. I love it

Thanks for the pics.

[mopinko]

34. did they move the wright flyer here?

two ends of the spectrum. we visited the wright museum in kitty hawk recently. it was extremely interesting.

eta-asked and answered

[FSogol]

36. The Wright flyer is in the Air & Space museum in DC.

The shuttle is in the Air & Space museum at Dulles in the Northern Virginia suburbs.

[Cooley Hurd]

49. ...and it's not even the original 1903 Flyer. It's the 1904 Flyer.

The 1903 Flyer was damaged beyond repair after the last flight on 12/17/1903 when a gust of wind sent it tumbling end-over-end.

[barbtries]

35. my grandsons and i

just left DC after a 5-day vacation there. we just missed it! thanks for sharing, pics are great.

[Marrah_G]

37. Wow, thank you for this

[maddezmom]

38. fantastic pics!

thanks for sharing.

[LongTomH]

39. I was in Tulsa, OK to see the Enterprise when it was being flown around the country!

I remember the grand hopes we had for the Space Shuttle (Sigh!). As beautiful as these pics are, they mark the end of an era, and the future is uncertain.

Here's a parting salute to Discovery; she served us well!

[myrna minx]

40. A bittersweet end of an era. Thanks for posting. K&R

[Autumn]

41. You are awesome, posting these pics and getting rid of nasty long time trolls

Thank you for both.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

42. Great pics.

I enjoyed that.

[Auggie]

44. Love the way Discovery looks ... a graceful but battered warhorse

ready for retirement.

[MisterP]

45. no Aldrin?

[just1voice]

46. Totally cool!

Thanks for posting!

[Liberal_in_LA]

48. Why are there two there? Isn't one coming to LA?

[tammywammy]

57. The Enterprise is going to New York, the Endeavour is going to LA. n/t

[malaise]

50. Lovely

Thanks

[Warren DeMontague]

51. There you see the difference between keeping a car in the garage for 30 years

And driving it to work every day.


Seriously, cool pix!!!

[ellisonz]

52. Awesome!

[Crabby Appleton]

53. Very cool pics, thanks! nt

[tooeyeten]

54. Total jealousy!

You lucky dog!

[TBF]

55. I'm still bitter about that not coming to Houston -

but my kids do love the museum at Dulles. We'll have to visit again on our next trip back.

[tammywammy]

56. One should have been sent to Houston. n/t

[DesertRat]

58. Wow, fantastic pictures!