Endeavour

We were part of history today! It's hard to see, but look over to the left of the United hangar...that's the space shuttle Endeavour!

 

Who'd have thought when Shelby flew the pretend Endeavour at the California Science Center that we'd get to see the real thing? Today the shuttle made a never before seen flight over California, and we were there at LAX to see it land. 

At first it did a flyover super low over the airport, and it was such a cool up-close glimpse. I tried to catch a video, but by the time I gawked, then showed Shelby, and then grabbed the camera it was too far gone. 

Once the jet and shuttle landed, it drove by us very slowly and gave us all a chance to take it in. We were right by the United hangar where it will now be parked before being driven to the California Science Center, so we watched as it drove over, piggybacking on the NASA jet, and parked.

A warning about the video - I was holding Cameron, trying to film, and at one point trying to zoom. So it's shaky. And it looks fabulous on my computer, but it doesn't quite translate on the blog. But it's  cool!

You can hear Shelby cheering in the background. She wasn't too excited during the wait and asked to go home a couple of times, but when the shuttle arrived she fed off the collective excitement of everyone there. Thousands of people showed up to watch from Imperial Highway, and it was really fun to share in the anticipation.

I tried to take an "I was there!" photo of each of the kids, but I couldn't get them and the shuttle in the frame well. The shuttle is teeny tiny in the distance by the hangar.

The wind wasn't helping - check out the hair!

 

One of my favorite parts of the adventure was Cameron's "ladies' man" moment. I put him in the stroller so I could help Shelby see better. When I turned around, a whole group of high school girls who had wandered down to see the shuttle was instead gathered around the stroller, playing peek-a-boo with Cameron. They were much more excited to see a cute little guy than the shuttle!

I'm so impressed that Endeavour could do so many flyovers before landing for good. It was great to have such a rare experience. I can't wait to go back to the California Science Center to see it even more up close.

By the way, this is one of those blog posts where the photos and videos just can't do it justice. It was so cool in person! I tried.