Atlantis landing at Edwards, June 22, 2007

ian.kluft.com / pics / atlantis-edwards-20070622 /

Finally - a chance to see a shuttle landing!

Here are my photos of the Space Shuttle Atlantis landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 12:49PM Pacific Time on June 22, 2007. I was lucky enough to be nearby in Mojave (visiting Masten Space Systems) when the news came out that it was going to land at Edwards instead of Cape Canaveral.
I've seen one shuttle launch before. That was Atlantis.
STS-86 launch, Sept 25 1997 - rescue mission to Mir
http://ian.kluft.com/pics/m2cc/sts86-2pc.gif
(from my 1997 trip to KSC)
I've seen an orbiter in its hangar. That was Atlantis.
Atlantis in the OPF - KSC Family & Friends Open House, Nov 6 1999
http://ian.kluft.com/pics/m2cc-99/d03p08-ksc-ov104.jpg
(from my 1999 trip to KSC)
Now I've seen a landing. Also Atlantis.

"How did you not know earlier?"

Since I'm interested in the subject, I was asked, "How did you not know earlier that the space shuttle was coming to Edwards?" Simple - Edwards is a backup landing site. NASA's first choice is to bring the orbiter back to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it can be brought directly into its hangar for processing of the next mission. If it lands at Edwards, it adds $2 million to the cost of the mission to load the orbiter on top of a Boeing 747 and make a ferry flight to Florida. When weather prevents landing in Florida and there aren't enough supplies on board the shuttle to extend the mission an extra day (until the Earth's rotation brings the United States under its orbit again), they decide to bring it to Edwards. When that decision is made, you usually have about an hour and a half of warning that it's coming. Though there would be a few hours before that you'll hear it's possible. So that's why this was a surprise.

Uncropped photos available

The photos shown below are cropped. You can see the full uncropped photos in a subdirectory.

Where I took these photos

I took my pictures from 34.92169 N 117.727089 W. The site is at the side of the road on a hill overlooking Rogers Dry Lake and the Edwards Air Force Base runway from the east. This site is on the military base and is not usually open to the public.

I'd like to thank the US Air Force for opening the gate at Rocket Site Rd to let civilians watch the landing. My photos are from the side of the road on a hill overlooking Rogers Dry Lake from a few miles away.

My position shown in Mike Massee's photos

See Mike Massee's excellent photos. I think I spotted my truck in Mike's last photo, below the middle of Atlantis' right wing in his field of view. Yes, seriously. I first looked for the picture with the right terrain behind it. You can see the dark blue color of my truck, and light blue to the right which was a PG&E truck that was parked across the road, a few carlengths down the road. The PG&E worker was on lunch break. I was standing on my truck toolbox but there isn't nearly enough resolution to see me.

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