Shuttle Discovery just flew over my head

[Trevor]

Didn't see another thread on this local DC "event".

The shuttle has been flying around DC for an hour now, doing a low pass over Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia, and then circling around DC itself. I work a few miles south of the direct line between the two points, and figured I'd only get a blurry distant view if that, and only if I timed it exactly right.

Walked out onto my hospital helipad a few times, never heard or saw anything. But a few minutes ago I decided to take one last trip. Scanned the distant cloudy and building-blocked sky for a minute, hoping to see a smudge that might be it, but then was startled to hear and see the huge thing flying directly towards me, flying directly over my head at what seemed like almost touchable distance.

Tried to get it on video with my iPhone (which I've never really used as a camera or video camera, so I'm sure I could have done much better) and here is the video, not as impressive as it was in real life.

My language may be slightly NSFW.

ZvjArKprlqw

[starman9000]

Cool! :up:

[rexinnih]

Nice. Thanks for the post.

[TomOpus]

You totally should've done your best Walter Cronkite voice.

[Thor Simpson]

Fake. No way something that heavy can fly without boosters attached.

[Rockmjd23]

Remember when we had a space program?

[Sonny Corinthos]

What was that flying beside it?

[wishbone]

What was that flying beside it?http://i39.tinypic.com/2vvnqbm.jpg

Better yet what's this yellowish mark?

[Bronkster]

http://i39.tinypic.com/2vvnqbm.jpg

Better yet what's this yellowish mark?
God wets the bed.

[Trevor]

What was that flying beside it?
That was the fighter jet escort.
http://i39.tinypic.com/2vvnqbm.jpg

Better yet what's this yellowish mark?
Let's just say it's DNA and leave it at that.

[Red Dog]

:lol: at all the attention this got around here today. I heard that people were pullling over on the sides of 295 and 395 to take pictures. I didn't go outside to see it - I didn't want to be reminded of what a tremendous waste of money the space shuttle program was. Fitting that it ends its journey near where the wasteful money was appropriated for it.

[starman9000]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8c/Debbie_Downer.PNG/215px-Debbie_Downer.PNG

[Numanoid]

Red Dog is right. We could have used that money for another unnecessary war.

[Dr Mabuse]

It was covered live on all the major networks. I passed by Fox, CNNHN, CNN, MSNBC, etc, all were covering live video of the flight over DC for some time.

[Red Dog]

Slow news day I guess. I'm amazed they took time off from Day 37 of white guy caps young black guy.

[Rockmjd23]

I don't care about the waste of money as much as the waste of time. The shuttle was nothing but a failure by the time 1986 came around and Challenger should have ended it permanently. It took another 25 years.

[wishbone]

http://i40.tinypic.com/vytc90.jpg

This 1:72 Space Shuttle model (http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/builds/rm/build_rm_5904.shtml) I had circa 1979 was huge -- it took forever to paint the inside of the shuttle bay silver. :lol:

[twikoff]

did you make a honking gesture, to see if you could get them to honk the horn?

[Trevor]

did you make a honking gesture, to see if you could get them to honk the horn?
No, but I started to wave before I realized how stupid that would have been.

[Mr. Salty]

Slow news day I guess.
Not understanding why seeing a space shuttle flying overhead on the back of a 747 would be interesting to almost everyone indicates to me that you have poor judgment.

[The Bus]

Those airplanes were doin' it.