Space shuttle Endeavour flyovers generate social media buzz
September 20, 2012 | 8:47am
Space shuttle Endeavour is generating excitement Thursday as it flies from Texas to Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert.
People took to Twitter, Facebook and other social media (see below) as the shuttle departed Houston and made a flyover of Austin, posting their photos of the retired orbiter as it passed near local landmarks.
The shuttle left Houston shortly after 5 a.m. PDT on
Thursday en route for Edwards Air Force Base, where it is expected to touch down around 12:30 p.m. after a
30-minute flyover around the base.
Riding atop a modified Boeing 747, the shuttle has already dipped low over the Texas state Capitol in Austin. It landed at
El Paso's Biggs Army Airfield at 7:12 PDT for refueling, NASA officials said, and is scheduled to fly over NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico before heading to
Tucson for another low pass.
The Tucson flyover was added to the route to honor former Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords, whose husband, Mark Kelly, commanded Endeavour's
final mission last year. Kelly requested the flyover, NASA confirmed.
To welcome the space shuttle to Southern California, NASA has invited
40 of its social media followers, including space enthusiasts, to the
Dryden Flight Research Center on the Edwards base. The participants were randomly selected from online
registrations that took place in August, according to information
published by the space agency.
The group, restricted to U.S. citizens 18 and over who follow NASA on
Twitter, Facebook and Google+, will have a rare opportunity to see the
landing and departure of Endeavour, officials said. They will also be
given the opportunity to speak with experts, tour shuttle support
vehicles and other NASA aircraft, as well as interact with members of
NASA's social media team, according to the published information.
L.A. Now is the Los Angeles Times’ breaking news section for Southern California. It is produced by more than 80 reporters and editors in The Times’ Metro section, reporting from the paper’s downtown Los Angeles headquarters as well as bureaus in Costa Mesa, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Riverside, Ventura and West Los Angeles.
