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Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Politics / News Watch the Skies: Space Shuttle Endeavour To Pass Over Tucson in Gabby's Honor
Posted by Jim Nintzel on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 5:00 PM
- NASA/Robert Markowitz
Keep your eyes peeled for the Space Shuttle Endeavour: It will be passing over Tucson on its way to retirement in sunny California. ABC News reports:
The space shuttle Endeavour is on a 2,700 mile cross-country trip — so you had to wonder if it couldn’t make one small detour. Especially at the request of former astronaut Mark Kelly, who commanded Endeavour’s last mission before it was retired?Kelly’s wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was struggling to recover from an attempted assassination in Tucson early last year, and his mission to the International Space Station conflicted with her recovery, so his decision to command it was bittersweet, but he had been training for so long, and had faith in the medical team treating his wife.
Endeavour is flying a victory lap across the South, taking off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, dropping from 14,000 feet to 1,500 to circle historic locations in space shuttle history. The orbiter, on top of its 747 carrier plane, circled over Houston and the Johnson Space Center today. Endeavour will overnight in Houston, then head to El Paso, where it will refuel, then arrive in Los Angeles late in the week. It is to go on permanent display at the California Science Center.
Mark Kelly’s request for Endeavour to make a detour and fly over Tucson, so Giffords could see it one last time, wouldn’t take it that far out of the way, especially when the idea was for it to be seen anyhow.
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