🚀 go-pugleaf

>From: ch-tkr@wasatch.UUCP (Timothy K Reynolds)

>	    When the space shuttle Atlantis lands at Edwards AFB, I
>	    would reeeeealy like to be there. I have read letters on the
>	    news-group telling me what to take along, but what do I have
>	    to get to watch. Do I have to get some kind of a pass to get
>	    on base? Please tell me what the deal is! And while I am
>	    asking who would I have to beg to get real close, if you
>	    know what I mean. Please help, I know that you guys out
>	    there must know someone. I am just a student who life dream
>	    is to watch the shuttle land from the front row.
>
>						 Thank You,
>						 Patrick R. Jones



I attended a shuttle landing on June 24, 1985.  My brother lives in nearby
Palmdale which was convienent since the landing was at 7:00am PDT.  Quite an
event-- something like a combination "trekkie" convention and RV caravan,
I would assume.  The experienced observers seemed to watch the event in
"simul-vision".  This is accomplished by watching the event on satillite
TV just outside your RV in the spectator parking lot at Edwards AFB.
Another memory is of a man on a recumbant(sp?) bicycle equipped with an
American flag on a rod (presumably for safety and patriatism).  This man
was able to carry an aluminum step ladder which he later deployed to sit
and watch the event through binoculars above a crowd of onlookers gath-
ered at the fenced parking lot.  The actual landing is brief and diffi-
cult to see with the unaided eye or a 50mm camera lens for that matter
(all I had at the time).  The actual landing is hard to see from the
spectators area without a telescope but the experienced observers would
watch the event on TV via satillite dish outside their RV.  The pictures
I have from that event are rather disappointing but the memories are
still endearing.  No pass is required for the spectator lot but this is
an extremely poor vantage point for seeing the landing.  The "multi-
sonic boom" phenomenon is experienced from this vantage point however as
the shuttle passes directly overhead (at considerable altitude) before
it turns to land.  I estimate that the shuttle is about 1/2 mile from
the parking lot when it comes to a stop.  From this distance the shuttle
looks like a lizard lying on a dry lake bed at 50 yards away :-)  It may
be possible to get a better vantage point on-base but in '85 shuttle
landings were still pretty well attended events and even the cheap-seats
off-base caused traffic congestion of major proportions (The re-cyclist
had the right idea).  Don't know the situation now so you might call Ed-
wards AFB for more recent info.

...............................................................................
Ed Lane				uunet!iconsys!lane
Software Engineer
SANYO/ICON			Telephone: (801) 225-6888
Orem, Utah			FAX: (801) 226-0651

"According to the source code this is appropriate behavior." -- T.Kimpton
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