April 17 - Shuttle Discovery to land at Dulles

[Egz]

What is the fate of the SCA once the shuttles are at their new homes?

[dubfan]

Ok, DC peeps. She's in the air @ 6:58am. Should be in the neighborhood right on schedule.

[dubfan]

What is the fate of the SCA once the shuttles are at their new homes?

There are two: T/N 905 & 911.

911 has already been retired and is a spare parts provider for another 747 that NASA uses for astronomy, and for 905.

905 will perform ferry duties for Discovery, and then Endeavour. After that, I'm not sure. It will remain in service, but I'm not sure what for, or for how long.

[KrazyGerman]

Anybody have live tracking?

[motronicmalfunction]

Anybody have live tracking?

flightaware has the edwards to ktts flight, but not the ktts to iad, so who knows? the flight # is nasa905 (N905NA). i'm planning on heading out to look about 0940, egz you want to come with?

[Tornado2dr]

flightaware has the edwards to ktts flight, but not the ktts to iad, so who knows? the flight # is nasa905 (N905NA). i'm planning on heading out to look about 0940, egz you want to come with?

Post pictures if you can get them.

[motronicmalfunction]

What is the fate of the SCA once the shuttles are at their new homes?

probably more of this.

[Hostile]

I work about 2 miles from Dulles, we just had a great view of the flyover from the 15th floor of the office.

[moose82]

Just flew right over my building twice. Very cool!

[Deserion]

Watching the live stream. Wow. Just amazing to see the 747 land with Discovery atop.

[Egz]

egz you want to come with?

Wish I could have, but only have enough time to take off one day, so I'll be making that Thursday.

[David@vwvortex]

Flew by my office window 3 times which was nice. Nobody on my conference call could have cared which was a sad statement.

Amazing sight.. truely an end of an era.

[Egz]

[Tornado2dr]

Look ma, piggyback!

[Tornado2dr]

Flew by my office window 3 times which was nice. Nobody on my conference call could have cared which was a sad statement.

Amazing sight.. truely an end of an era.

My mother just emailed me to rub it in - saw it from her office window on Penn....said she invited one of the fresh-out-of-college staffers/interns to take a peek cause he was right outside her door doing nothing...and he looked at her with a "whatsashuttle" look.

[Egz]

[Vince IsA Beast]

Flew by my office window 3 times which was nice. Nobody on my conference call could have cared which was a sad statement.

Amazing sight.. truely an end of an era.

Got an amazing view of it as it flew right over my building while 20 of us were on the roof.

[motronicmalfunction]

well we saw a rare bird that looks very similar from 8-10,000', but it wasn't the sca.



i wasn't sure at first, but then i got back and read that the ussod left for brussels this morning.



one e-4b leaves, another has to fly in and take it's place, cog stuff.

bummer. will be heading to the museum again once the display opens.

[Tornado2dr]

Awesome pictures.

Is there a pretty good possibily that there was another aircraft pacing along to get high-quality shots from the air? I see the escort in the background of one of the ones above - just curious.

[Egz]

Got an amazing view of it as it flew right over my building while 20 of us were on the roof.

Was this you?

[dubfan]

Awesome pictures.

Is there a pretty good possibily that there was another aircraft pacing along to get high-quality shots from the air? I see the escort in the background of one of the ones above - just curious.

NASA T-38s, yes. Photos will be forthcoming, I'm sure.

[Egz]

For NYC area members:

NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) with space shuttle Enterprise mounted atop will fly at a relatively low altitude over various parts of the New York City metropolitan area on Monday, April 23.

The Federal Aviation Administration is coordinating the flight, which is scheduled to occur between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. EDT.

The exact route and timing of the flight depend on weather and operational constraints, including the on-time delivery of space shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., this week. If all goes as planned, the aircraft is expected to fly near a variety of landmarks in the metropolitan area, including the Statue of Liberty and the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. When the flyover is complete, the SCA will land at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

During the weeks following the arrival, Enterprise will be "demated" from the 747 and placed on a barge that will be moved by tugboat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid museum in June. The shuttle will be lifted by crane and placed on the flight deck of the Intrepid, where it will be on exhibit to the public starting this summer in a temporary climate-controlled pavilion. The Intrepid continues to work on a permanent exhibit facility to showcase Enterprise that will enhance the museum's space-related exhibits and education curriculum

[Vince IsA Beast]

Was this you?

Yea. Different building haha, but yea we were like that.

[sg207ptg]

The rest:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1039300...tle?feat=email

[Tornado2dr]

^^^Cool

There are some cool photos sent in by readers on washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...y.html#photo=1

[KahviVW]

Amazing!

At least one shuttle will be properly taken care of at Udvar-Hazy.

I hope NASA got as much PR as possible from the loops around the mall. The current state of funding is debilitating, even for CCdev. Unmanned exploration and planetary science have all been completely decimated.

[Egz]

Amazing!

At least one shuttle will be properly taken care of at Udvar-Hazy.

I hope NASA got as much PR as possible from the loops around the mall. The current state of funding is debilitating, even for CCdev. Unmanned exploration and planetary science have all been completely decimated.

Should have towed a banner behind it "Like what you see? Call your Congressman to ask for more"

[00boraslow]

Cool pics

[Brendon1098]

It was so amazing to see history like this today from the roof of the tallest building in National Harbor and being one of two allowed up

So glad she made it home safe and sound and I can't wait to see her in person. Make's me all warm and fuzzy just saying it lol

[dubfan]

NASA T-38s, yes. Photos will be forthcoming, I'm sure.

I've seen the pics from the airborne T-38s, for the KSC departure leg only though, but they're embargoed ATM. Not sure why. They're spectacular. Some nice shots with the SCA/Discovery + the C9 Pathfinder aircraft, and some others with sun shining thru the gap between the SCA and Discovery. Will post a link when they get released.

In the meantime, I think this is probably the best collection of ground-based photography from the KSC end:

http://www.launchphotography.com/Dis...onian_VAB.html

Really amazing stuff there. Not hotlinking because the quality is so amazing. I think he shot from the VAB roof.

[Hostile]

I really like that the shuttle is still all scarred up and dirty. I hope they all stay that way.

My dad volunteers at Udvar-Hazy and he said it's not going to be cleaned prior to going on display. It's going in grimy and dirty.

[Tornado2dr]

Really amazing stuff there. Not hotlinking because the quality is so amazing. I think he shot from the VAB roof.

Wow, thanks!

I noticed in a few of the pictures from wapo.com that there appears to be scaffolding up around the statue of freedom atop the capitol building, with a couple of people up there. I'm jealous.

[dubfan]

JSC2012-E-041295 (17 April 2012) --- The space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), flies away from the Kennedy Space Center on April 17, 2012 headed to the Washington, D.C. area. The view is from a NASA T-38, piloted by Richard Clark, which flew as a chase plane for the trip. Discovery, the first orbiter retired from NASA's shuttle fleet, completed 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited the Earth 5,830 times, and traveled 148,221,675 miles. NASA will transfer Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum to begin its new mission to commemorate past achievements in space and to educate and inspire future generations of explorers. Photo Credit: NASA

Hi res: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/...012e041295.jpg

JSC2012-E-041320 (17 April 2012) --- The space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), leaves the Kennedy Space Center on April 17, 2012 headed to the Washington, D.C. area. A C-9 aircraft, near top, accompanies the flight. The view is from a NASA T-38, piloted by Richard Clark, which flew as a chase plane for the trip. Discovery, the first orbiter retired from NASA's shuttle fleet, completed 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited the Earth 5,830 times, and traveled 148,221,675 miles. NASA will transfer Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum to begin its new mission to commemorate past achievements in space and to educate and inspire future generations of explorers. Photo Credit: NASA

Hi res: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/...012e041320.jpg

There's more cool stuff but it's still under embargo ...

[GolfTango]

Big thanks to dubfan for keeping me abreast on OV-103's status! It was amazing to see it for the last time in the wild.


Space Shuttle Discovery, IAD 4/17/12 by golftango, on Flickr


Space Shuttle Discovery, IAD 4/17/12 by golftango, on Flickr


Space Shuttle Discovery, IAD 4/17/12 by golftango, on Flickr


Space Shuttle Discovery, IAD 4/17/12 by golftango, on Flickr


Space Shuttle Discovery, IAD 4/17/12 by golftango, on Flickr


Space Shuttle Discovery, IAD 4/17/12 by golftango, on Flickr


Space Shuttle Discovery, IAD 4/17/12 by golftango, on Flickr

[dubfan]

to GolfTango. Spectacular photos -- as good as anything I've seen from the pros. Mega-kudos.

On Apron W, awaiting demating, scheduled to occur overnight. Will be nose-to-nose w/Enterprise at handover ceremony tomorrow @ 11am. From Ben Cooper:

Ben Cooper @LaunchPhoto
PHOTO: I just snapped this shot of Discovery about to be demated at Dulles (shot for @collectSPACE): twitpic.com/9bh0il