End of an Era

End of an Era was Originally Posted on April 16, 2012 by lavarock

On Tuesday, Shuttle Discovery will fly its last flight atop a specially fitted 747 to Dulles Airport near Washington DC. My guess is that it will arrive in DC and make a trip around the Beltway, which could be closed for the event. It’s not like that hasn’t happened before.

I was one of the people, along with some Ham friends, who drove down the alternate runway at Dulles (in my fast Camaro) to see the first shuttle, Enterprise come in that way. The Enterprise, named after the Star Trek ship, never actually flew in space. Rather it was a test vehicle. I have a photo I took of the Enterprise atop a 747 the the Concorde taking off in the background.

I attended the first and third shuttle launches and took lots of photos.

One side event of the Shuttles was the ability of school kids to talk viia Ham radio directly to Astronauts in space. They were all licensed Hams. What a great learning experience! remember back at the beginning, it was a wonder to be able to have a car phone!

Farewell Shuttles!