Shuttle Landing at Edwards

Karen and I were able to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis land at Edwards Air Force Base yesterday. It was my third time seeing it land and Karen's first. I was glad Karen finally was able to see a landing - especially since we are leaving for Turkey soon. I think it was special to her since her father spent so many years building shuttles in Palmdale. For those in the Antelope Valley, it always seems funny to hear media say, "...the shuttle will leave Edwards to return home..." because for local residents the Antelope Valley is a shuttle's home.

I want to try to show some photos you normally don't see on the news. This landing was closed to the public, which gave us much more opportunity to get a good viewing spot. The best spot was over at the aeroclub - but Karen and I weren't in time to get there before they closed the road off. So we positioned ourselves on a high point overlooking main base. A lot of people always wonder how the shuttle seems to come from the north when it was obviously in orbit from the south. Below is a pic of the landing route onto the Edwards dry lake bed. Notice the shuttle actually loops around much as an approaching plane would. Karen and I were about a mile north-northwest of the runway on the dry lake bed:

Below, a worker test for some sort of interference that could disrupt communications:

Atlantis landing below. The best my camera can do from the distance we were at:

Atlantis down with parachute open:

Great pic from over by the aeroclub:

Everyone getting ready to head back to work or home:

This is the platform the shuttle will be loaded onto so it can be raised up on top of the 747 to fly it back east: