Tag Archives: space shuttle

NASA Fly-By at the George Observatory

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At the end of November, the Space Shuttle Endeavor made its way back to Earth – and was rerouted to a base in California due to poor weather at Kennedy Space Center. To get the shuttle back to Florida and ready for its next trip to space, it was piggybacked on a modified 747 and flown cross-country on Dec. 11. When it passed over Houston, a science class taking place at the Museum’s George Observatory had a front row seat as it flew overhead. Here’s what Astronomer Barbara Wilson had to say about the experience:

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A photo of the shuttle – flown on the back of a modified 747 –
passing over the George Observatory in Brazos Bend State Park.

George Observatory/HMNS staff received this communication from NASA pilot Triple Nickel.

“For those who care the Shuttle landed in Ft Worth, if the weather is good Thursday the 747 will fly from Ft Worth down to JSC for a flyby and then back to Barksdale AFB.”

Then we received another notice from Flight Director Chuck Shaw of the actual flight path and times.  We watched the flight path on the Internet and figured out when the 747 with shuttle piggybacked on top would pass over the George Observatory,  all of the students and their Moms went up with us to the main observatory deck and we heard the plane first then saw it pass directly over the George Observatory at very low altitude.

Our home school students were here today taking a class on Origins of Flight and a Challenger Mission. 20 students were thrilled to get to see the Shuttle piggybacked on the 747!

The pictures are of the Space Shuttle being transported to NASA at 11:55 am today 12/11/08 and were taken by Laurie Knight, mother of two students attending classes. Thanks Laurie.

You can see more of Laurie’s photos (plus lots of other fabulous visitor-submitted photos of the Museum and its satellites) at the Houston Museum of Natural Science pool on Flickr or on Barbara’s Flickr photostream. You can also see another amazing closeup shot of how the 747 and the shuttle were piggybacked, taken by AlphaTangoBravo when the 747 came closer to the ground, here.