I went to go to work this morning, and guess what I ran into...

[HipChick]

[IMG][/IMG]

[taterguy]

1. Ran into? Hope you have good insurance

[Zax2me]

2. Sexy....

[Happyhippychick]

3. We are neighbors. I ran into it too!

[HipChick]

7. I saw people pulled over on the shoulders taking pics

I can't think what a nightmare it was on the Beltway

[Recursion]

34. I saw them fly past Mount Vernon when I was on the Parkway

The escort saluted (at least I'm pretty sure that's what wing-waggling means); I thought that was cool.

[calimary]

4. Wow!

Great shot!

[freshwest]

5. Either fueling or fooling around, huh?

[dmr]

6. Fueling aorund ....

That's a pretty awesome pic.

[freshwest]

15. Yes it is, LOL.

[madokie]

8. I hope you didn't put a big ass dent in it

Kidd'n.
Of all the times I've seen a picture of the 747 with the space shuttle on its back I never noticed the wing tips on the rear wings before.

Its kind of sad, the killing of the space shuttle program and all. I think as humans we should explore and thats what they're doing with the ICC is exploring, the space shuttle to get to and from. I guarantee they have a much better idea of what it takes to live in a weightless environment than they did when they started space flight. You have to take the first steps first, sometimes they seem like small steps but they're necessary steps.

[Old and In the Way]

20. I think this particular 747 requires a lot more control surfaces

This Shuttle piggyback has to be aerodynamically problematic so the elevators are longer than normal to give better up/down control and the vertical stabilizers must help push the rear end more effectively when it's banking a turn. Note the special cover on the shuttle engines...there must be a lot of turbulence created off the tail of the shuttle and they needed to put a special tail shroud on the shuttle to direct the airflow more smoothly into the 747 tail's elevator/stabilizer surfaces.

[madokie]

21. I just hadn't noticed those before

I'm drawn to anything that flys

[JNelson6563]

9. Did you yell "Throw me somethin' mister!!"?

And if so, did they?

Great pic!

Julie

[abelenkpe]

10. Sweet! Nt

[lynne]

11. Caught it from my deck - three times!

First time I've been glad to be living in the Dulles landing corridor.

[HipChick]

13. People were pulled over on route 28

[WCGreen]

12. As God as my witness....

I never knew that plane could fuck...

[lastlib]

17. "Soutwest always pulls out on time..."

(wait for it...)

.

.

.

.

[DevonRex]

18. *giggle*

I wonder what else it can do. Laundry? The bathroom? That'd be really sexy.

[Auntie Bush]

14. I take it you ducked in time.

[TlalocW]

16. Ran into? I bet..

The exchanging of information between you and the other driver was surreal.

TlalocW

[jtuck004]

19. Were you flying your helicopter to work?

Actually saw this on tv - how cool is that, to use a big plane to fly the old shuttle around for everyone to see.

With that big NASA symbol right there.

I forget - with all the benefits we got from that program, why are we trying to kill it?

[randr]

22. I have never seen them breed before

Always wondered where they came from.

[47of74]

31. LOL

[MADem]

23. Great pic--do you work near Dulles? nt

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

24. I work at HUD and saw the shuttle over our building. Too bad our roof is being repaired, but

my colleague took some amazing pictures!!!

[shireen]

25. awesome!

What a wonderful treat! Love the shuttles and miss them.

[no_hypocrisy]

26. Fly United

[yesphan]

27. Damn !

747s are huge ! What a tremendous example of engineering, both below and above.

[Thor_MN]

29. A long time ago, I was standing in the water at Coco Beach when people started cheering

and clapping. I was pretty sure it wasn't me that had their attention. I turned around and saw something very similar.

[Historic NY]

30. I remember seeing the "Enterprise" being piggy backed on its European tour...

after the glide tests.

[AlbertCat]

32. I remember seeing the "Enterprise" being piggy backed on its European tour...

Me too... I got a awsome pic too!

[bluedigger]

33. That's gonna leave a mark...

[OffWithTheirHeads]

35. Let me guess. Rmoney campaign jet w/Seamus the dog on top?

[Meiko]

36. Beautiful photo

Sad end to a great great era. I guess we don't have a space program now.

[just1voice]

37. I saw it too, flew right over my house yesterday.

I've always been supportive of the space program so I was particularly thrilled to see it.

[Liberal_in_LA]

38. wow. what a pic

[Duer 157099]

39. Is Romney's dog in that top one?

Maybe he learned his lesson.

[stuntcat]

40. I'm less than 2 miles from Reagan airport and I still missed it :(

I was out in the yard all morning planting things. I knew it was gonna happen but I had a lot to do out there and it was a nice day, I forgot to watch out for it.

Usually I can see all the planes since we're on a big hill. It's so many planes I never pay attention If I'd looked up at the right time I bet I'd have seen it just this clear! Oh well, my husband got a video of it. I told myself It's just a big metal machine, the pictures will have to be enough for me lol

[hyphenate]

41. Incredible!

Rachel talked about it last night. What an excellent sight!

I remember the first shuttle, back in 1976. Trek fans started a petition to name it the Enterprise, and with some friends at NASA, it happened. It never made it into space, though. So seeing the Discovery retured is a great thing, showing that we could get together a relatively coherent space program, even after the Apollo program. I say we still beed to get back out there aggressively, because aiming for something like that united the country to a large degree in the 50w-70s even to a point where it was a non-partisan effort. It is likely that unity could not be achieved now, though I would like to see us try.

[Blue Owl]

42. Hot Shuttle-on-Plane action

Nice catch!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

43. I saw one of those flights in 1979.

I was living in san antonio, and one of the shuttles on a 747 had gone from Andrews AFB where it landed, to Lackland AFB, and was headed back to florida.

I was at a car dealership, on NW Highway, waiting for repairs. The TV was on and the local newsman was talking about the 747, and they had a live shot of it taking off. About 2 minutes later I saw it out the window of the waiting room, ran outside through the showroom, yelling,"It's the Space Shuttle!"

It was still very low, and I got a good look at it. Most impressive thing I've ever seen.

I guess anything that big takes a long time to get fully airborne.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

44. Aw crap. They're "reimagining" Moonraker, aren't they?

Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!