Space Shuttle Endeavour's Last Flight

For the WWP Equinox event Necessity I was blessed with the last opportunity to see Endeavour in flight, even though it was piggyback on the SCA, the retrofitted 747 that used to carry the Endeavour and other shuttles back to Florida for future missions. Amidst a throng of thousands I witnessed the space shuttle land at LAX after flying over many parts of the city and LAX a couple times. Space Shuttle Endeavour is about 122' long and the SCA is 231' long with a wingspan of 195' and 63' tall. Endeavour had flown 299 full days in its career for a total well over 122,000,000 miles of space flight. Farewell Endeavour and the shuttle program! In memory of Space Shuttle Challenger.

This shot unfortunately had to be a composition of still and pano. Many photographers as well as thousands of other fans swarmed a little church parking lot and a closed off E Imperial Ave in El Segundo, CA on a bluff above LAX, Los Angeles International Airport. Most people were there hours before the shuttle was to arrive. Sadly, I was only 2 hours early and although I was able to pull of a pano before police removed hundreds of us from in front of the fence, I had to go back behind the throng of thousands and shoot over everyone's head to get the shuttle as it did a couple flybys and then landed. I had to add in the shuttle to the pano from the last flyby before it landed.

Especially now, after seeing the end of the historic shuttle program, NASA, the Space Program and the advancement of technology in general more than ever need our support. It's vitally important that the United States does not tarry in the advancement or furthering of exploration and experimentation in outer space. The Space Program has historically been a significant influence on today's technology and modern medicine not to mention many other fields. Our presence in space will continue to keep America at the forefront of technological innovation and advancement in other fields.

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USA-Canada / USA-California

Lat: 33° 55' 50.97" N
Long: 119° 25' 37.49" W

Elevation: 600

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Medium. Nearby, but not to the last decimal.

Same brain as always and the trusty D200 and Sigma 8mm with, yes, a Kaidan Quickpan IV which is still useful! Now with remote trigger! Batteries extra.