Picture of the Day for 4/17/2012. I had a front row seat near the runway to see the space shuttle Discovery take off on the back of a 747 from the Kennedy Space Center for its eventual home in the Smithsonian. After the take-off (which I failed to capture on video- long story), the plane flew at 300 feet over Cocoa Beach as a farewell to the area and then returned for a final fly-by over the runway before beginning the journey north. Fortunately, I was able to get my act together in time to capture video (see above) of the final fly-by. It was an amazing sight!
Getting to the event was quite an adventure (but definitely worth it). I left West Palm Beach at 1:00 a.m. to make sure I arrived in plenty of time for the 5:10 a.m. call to board the buses to the runway.
We arrived at the runway at 6:00 a.m.-ish while it was still dark. Pictured below is the control tower.
Here is a photograph of the runway shortly after daybreak.
Below are pictures and video of the plane slowly taxiing down the runway before take-off at 7:00 a.m.
As you might guess, there was a lot of press coverage of this event.
After the final fly-by, it was back to the buses. It didn't take long to return to the visitor center and from there the parking lot to retrieve my car. I was back in West Palm Beach by 10:45 a.m.
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