Discovery Shuttle Flyover DC

killbilly

killbilly

Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
As promised in the other thread.

I didn't take these - I merely played pack mule for the photographer, who is far more talented (and better looking) than I am. She used an EOS 5D with a 400mm lens.

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Actually, this was quite a treat for DC. I thought it was really cool that the parks service was lenient on people pulling their cars over on the parkway to watch. And kudos to the flight crew. They did a few laps around the entire area so that everyone could get a look. I thought that was really nice.
 
Adding a couple more here...
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Over the Jefferson memorial.

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Washington monument...

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Headed toward DCA....
 
Very very cool! I really wanted to make it down there, but last night's flight didn't cooperate.
 
Kinda unrelated, but kinda related, when I was based in IAH and we heard the 'NASA' call sign out of KEFD they had the WORST sounding radios I think I have ever heard. A ton of background noise and just hard to hear. I thought it was ironic that they can fly into outerspace, but I can hardly understand them talking to IAH Center.

Anyway, great pictures Bill!
 
Seggy said:
Kinda unrelated, but kinda related, when I was based in IAH and we heard the 'NASA' call sign out of KEFD they had the WORST sounding radios I think I have ever heard. A ton of background noise and just hard to hear. I thought it was ironic that they can fly into outerspace, but I can hardly understand them talking to IAH Center.

Anyway, great pictures Bill!
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Thanks. Your comment about the radios is interesting: I was going back and forth listening to IAD tower and DCA tower and Potomac Approach on LiveATC trying to figure out where the flight was. I finally caught them on the radio and thought to myself, "man, those transmissions sound like crap - LiveATC must be heavy on the compression or something."

But maybe it wasn't LiveATC after all...

Anyway. I have mixed feelings about the shuttle program being over. It was a marvelously inspirational program, and while it was more useful than, say, the Apollo programs, the costs involved were horrendous. I have high hopes for SpaceX.
 
That right there is what it's all about. Incredible "foresight" to capture that frame; the sign of a great photographer.
 
deadpixel said:
Fan of this guys photo. He's got some other stuff too http://yfrog.com/user/flyingwithfish/profile
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This picture sums up exactly why the cancellation of the shuttle program and really almost our entire space program is such a travesty. It's that many more children who will now be inspired by the America portrayed by wastes of space such as "the situation" than the America represented by that vehicle. I know it isn't so melodramatic as that but it is a large step in the wrong direction to putting this country back on top in the fields of science and engineering.
 
Agreed. The Space Shuttle and the program it was a part of represented so much more than a reusable space vehicle. We walked on the moon, now we can't even send our own up. Sad.
 
Although the shuttle was getting pretty long in the tooth, it is sad that no one had the gumption to develop its replacement in the 90's. Or now. Better, faster, cheaper, using off the shelf components seems to be the mantra. But if you pull all your ice cream out of the same tub, it tastes the same after a while. Need a new vision.
 
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