Look Up in the Sky: It's Space Shuttle Endeavour

The Space Shuttle Endeavour is coming.

After weather delayed Endeavour’s departure from Florida for two days, NASA gave the go-ahead for a Wednesday take-off at dawn, the first leg of the highly anticipated farewell tour that has crowds waiting for a glimpse from Mississippi to Houston to California. 

And why not? It’s a sight that will be hard to forget - the last space shuttle, securely piggybacked onto a modified Boeing 747 jet, flying low over the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Area and the state Capitol building, at 1,500 feet. 

Vehicle reservations to NASA Ames’ free flyover party at Moffett Field were already booked up by Tuesday (touting the availability of breakfast at the aforementioned food trucks). You can still walk in via VTA Bus route 51 and VTA light rail, though.

The Peninsula Bike Party announced a Space Shuttle Bike Ride, meeting early at the Mountain View Caltrain Station to ride over Moffett Field this morning, vehicle passes in hand. The Geek Club sent out word on Meetup.com.

It is the last chance to see the Endeavour in the air. If you never made the trek to Edwards Air Force Base in the Antelope Valley to watch the space shuttle landings in their heyday—the way many in this valley have—it’s hard to describe the excitement. But it’s real. 

The Bay Area flyover starts in the East Bay about 8:30 a.m. From there, it’s scheduled to head over San Francisco, and a tribute cruise 9-9:30 a.m. over Moffett Field and NASA Ames, where so much of the important space shuttle work was performed.

Then, it’s on to L.A., where 10:30 a.m. flyovers are planned over Disneyland, among several locations. All in a morning's work.

Endeavour will become a land-bound exhibit in the California Science Center in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park, the latest of the space shuttles to transition to civilian life, on museum duty.

NASA is encouraging people to report Endeavour sightings using the hashtags #spottheshuttle and #OV105, Endeavour's orbiter vehicle designation.

Tuesday, NASA sent out suggested viewing locations—for maximum photo-op possibilities— ranging from the State Capitol in Sacramento, the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, Chabot Space and Science Center, Exploratorium, Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

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