About 100 or so gathered on the roof of our building to get a glimpse of the Space Shuttle Discovery.
It was slated to fly over the Washington, DC monuments for a swansong journey before officially retiring to a new home at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, VA.
It was supposed to arrive between 10 AM and 11 AM ET but it was early. Word traveled faster than the shuttle.
How did we know? Why, Twitter, of course. Thanks, @Smithsonian! (HT @shkon)
Discovery just flew over us at Dulles. Now headed in to fly over DC. Get out there and #spottheshuttle
— Smithsonian (@smithsonian) April 17, 2012
So, we headed up to the roof and anxiously attempted to figure out just exactly which direction to look in anticipation of its arrival. Hashtags started to trend on Twitter such as #SpottheShuttle and #WelcomeDiscovery.
Then, it started with a point — followed by another as we shielded the sun from our eyes. “Is that it?” “Yup, there it is!!”
It flew across the sky from our right to left, riding piggyback and escorted by a fighter jet, before heading toward the US Capitol and the National Mall. Then, just like that, it was gone.
Not something most of us see every day and it was really special to see so many assemble to witness it. Pretty cool way to start a Tuesday.
You had a good run, Discovery. Best to your NASA engineers and crew. Thanks for your service.
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