Space Shuttle: Pure Evo Runway Photos!

What an amazing day. I was able to get into the airport and onto the runway for the fly-by and arrival of the Space Shuttle Discovery at Dulles Int'l. Airport this morning on its final flight. Really the opportunity of a lifetime.

A bit of a long story on how I got in and right up to the runway, but basically I was with the emergency personnel. A little talking got me right down to the end of the runway where the plane would touch down.

My arrival:



My escorts:



The planes did a fly-by, then headed down to DC to make a few laps of the Capital. Upon returning, they did one more fly-by and huge circle before coming back to land:



Long before the 747 landed, an escort plane did what I can only guess was a test landing to check conditions.



Finally the plane reappeared on the horizon, and this time with the landing gear down.





When the wheels touched down, my heart was pounding like I was a little kid at Disneyland for the first time. It was so exciting!



My favorite shot of the day. I got the escort plane positioned perfectly above the other 2 aircraft.



After landing, the aircraft taxied through the terminals towards the crane setup that will separate them





The plane held a while on the runway here. Despite the grandeur of the event, there was still normal airport traffic to deal with!



It then headed finally over to the crane:





And finally, here's a close up. I spent many days of my childhood drawing the Space Shuttle when I should have been listening in class. And now to be a part of this and see it up so close is truly unreal.

 

Amazing stuff..

REP!

 

Fantastic! Awesome pictures and truly once in a lifetime experience! Thanks for sharing Steve.

 

I love it! That shuttle looks absolutely BEAT!

Do you have any photos of it from far away facing towards the right? I want lots of those...

 

Big time awesome steve Mega rep for you! How long did it take them to remove the shuttle from landing? Sorry must spread rep around first!

 

Sorry... bad joke refering to the other space shuttle thread.

 

Awesome pictures, Steve! You really got to the perfect location for those shoots! Can't get any better than being right on the runway with the fire crew! Where's the video???

 

Ninja edit! I get it, you're making fun of Justin

 

He's making fun of Justin

 

I gave my video camera to one of the firemen on top of his truck (if you can't trust him, right?). I briefly looked at the footage he shot. It looks OK, but he had the planes in the top 1/4 of the frame, and kept dropping the view to the ground. I don't blame him, I'm sure he just wanted to watch! But it's some decent footage. I probably won't go through it for a bit though.

He got the fly-by, and then the landing too. There is certainly way better footage on YouTube than mine!