On April 17, 2012, an otherwise fairly ordinary day, many of us had the opportunity to witness an extraordinary event. The arrival of the space shuttle Discovery. In Northern Virginia, this was a pretty big deal. Many people took time off from work for a chance to witness the flyover. Students at area schools stood out in the schoolyard hoping to see the flight. The folks at NASA arranged for Discovery and it's ferry aircraft to fly over some local neighborhoods. I like to think they did this to share the love of space exploration with everyone within view.
For a few brief moments the whole world stood still. People got out of their cars and stood along VA 28, a highway located close to Dulles International Airport, to see the shuttle come in for a landing. My brother-in-law Kevin & and his wife Erin shot this video:
I love the way an event like this brings people of all ages and backgrounds together. I'm told that people in offices all over the Washington D.C. area stopped what they were doing to watch the flyover from their windows. For a few moments, we were all connected in universal fascination.
I hope you were able to witness the flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery. According to NASA, the shuttle Enterprise is scheduled to leave Dulles for JFK on April 27th. Hopefully if you missed Discovery's flight, you can see Enterprise on the way out tomorrow...assuming the weather is nice.
For more photos of the preparations for the flight of Space Shuttle Discovery, see this article here.
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