Space Shuttle Atlantis Lands at Edwards AFB!

Having been here for three years, we knew that Edwards was the backup landing site for Space Shuttle Atlantis this week. They had gone back and forth about whether it would land in Florida, but due to the bad weather, the decision was made early this morning to land it here in California.

I had no idea what was going on until I got on the computer this morning. We hadn't heard any sonic booms so we knew that it had not landed, well not here anyway. When I logged in, I saw a news alert on Yahoo! that said, "Watch the Space Shuttle Atlantis land live at 11:38 EST." That would make it 8:38 our time. My clock said 8:23 when I looked up. YEAH - we still had time to catch it!!

So, without changing out of our pajamas, Kolya and I jumped into my car and took off for the highest point on the base. We got there with time to spare, thank goodness! We got into position and waited. We waited for the first person to scream out loud "there it is - over there" and then we began searching the sky ourselves. Finally, like a needle in a haystack, we found it. Then we heard (and felt!) the two HUGE sonic booms as the shuttle reentered the Earth's atmosphere. It was a tiny, white spec in the bright blue sky, but only for a moment. We lost it in the sun and finally regained a visual as it was about to land. It floated over the flight line for a moment and then we could see the puff of dust and sand as the rear wheels touched down. Kolya wanted the parachute to deploy and he finally got his wish after a few more moments.

We stood there for a minute watching it slow to a final stop at the end of the runway. With our third safe and uneventful landing behind us, we hopped back into the car and tried to get closer and get better pictures. We could only go as far as the fence line but it was truly an amazing site to see in person. To think that this machine was floating above us in space not a few hours before that, and then to see it float down to the ground was an unbelievable site. I'm so thankful that Nicholas got to see it, too. We'll stop by NASA this week to see it up close while they're prepping it for its return flight to Kennedy Space Center. He'll love it and it is something he'll remember for the rest of his life!