Chance of a Lifetime!

When those moments of "chance of a lifetime" come along, I have decided that I just need to go for it!  That's what happened this morning!  The news of the Space Shuttle Endeavor was on it's last flight and was coming through the Bay Area.  I hadn't planned to go anywhere to take a glance, as I was sure it would go over my house.  Planes from Moffett field in Mt. View usually fly over our house when they are practicing "touch-n-go" maneuvers. 

It occurred to me that it might not take that path. . .and I did not want to miss out!  On the news, they were saying that the shuttle would fly over Moffett/NASA Ames at about 10:15am.  It was 9:55 when I heard that.  I decided to put on my shoes, brush my hair and go! (I hadn't had my shower yet, but it didn't matter)  I was halfway there when I kicked myself for not picking up a camera.  Thank goodness for cameras on phones now!  So this is the shot I got with my little 2mp phone camera.  Not too bad!

As the 747 flew over, it was very low and you could see very clearly the Endeavor on top.  It doesn't really look like it by this photo, but it flew just in front of me.  I'm glad it did, otherwise I might not have caught a glimpse of the shuttle.  When I picked up Jonathan from school this afternoon, he said his Chemistry teacher took the kids outside to wait for it to fly over.  And it did!  Which means, it flew over my house after all.  Jonathan said they were directly under the 747, so they did not have as clear a view of the shuttle.  I was really pleased that the teacher thought enough to take the kids out to experience this awesome event!

This is a part of our history.  I remember the first shuttle flight in April 1981 with the Columbia.  I also remember the tragic explosion of the Challenger in January 1986.  Sadly, we remember the Columbia in 2003 that disintegrated upon approach to landing.  Even with these two tragedies, all five of the shuttles made a significant number of flights!  I think it is astounding that there were only the two accidents.

As I watched from the on-ramp to highway 101 from Moffett Blvd., as you can see in the bottom of the photo, I could hear the thousands standing around on sidewalks, roadways, overpasses, cheer loudly.  Car and semi-truck horns were honking.  I got goose-bumps for those 5 seconds the Endeavor flew over!  There are many things in life to be excited about!  When these things come around, just go for it! You don't want to miss out!

Space shuttle Endeavor on it's last flight