Up Close and Personal....

waiting for the flyover

there it is coming straight from Matt's work

Today, Hannah and I got to see a little bit of history up close and personal.  NASA is flying the Endeavor space shuttle from Florida, to a museum in Los Angeles.  The Endeavor was built to replace the Challenger, after it's tragic accident.  Now that the shuttle program has ended, the Endeavor will  be on display in California.  The Endeavor is the last shuttle to be retired from NASA.  The flight path for the trip included a couple of stops at NASA sites in Houston, and Mississipi.  We were really lucky to be on the list as well.  The shuttle was flown over  the NASA White Sands Test Facility this morning and then continued in a very low altitude flyover across Las Cruces, before turning and heading west to it's final destination.  Hannah and I were aware of it's exact location thanks to Matt, who works for NASA at their site, here in Las Cruces.  After flying over Matt's work several times the jumbo jet carrying the shuttle turned and headed our way.  We were thrilled when it altered it's course slightly and flew directly over our house.  So cool.  The pictures make it seem like it was far away but it was extremely low in the sky and we could see it very clearly.  Talk about being seeing history right in your own backyard!  Sounds kind of lame, but it felt really emotional to see it up close and personal.  Thinking about all of the memories that are a part of my childhood that involved the space shuttle....including that horrific accident when I was an 8th grader, and knowing that the space flight program is over....felt like a big moment in history and I was glad that Hannah and I had an up close and personal view of that moment.