Space shuttle fly over

The space shuttle Endeavour will be making it's permanent retirement home at the California Science Center here in LA. On its flight to LAX, it made a grand fly over tour of California. NASA had publicized the fly over spots and the list included Griffith Observatory and Universal Studios. Both of those sites are visible from my office building. I researched, schemed and planned how to see the shuttle during its fly over and maybe get some decent pictures!

Luckily for me, our building's facilities staff are part of our department, so I joined a few people on the roof of our building (building engineers, security installer, random employees who know how to get up there, and the cafeteria's chef). Unfortunately I didn't have my long lens (I'd lent it to a friend, and forgot to get it back).

The day was hot and our small crowd milled about waiting, checking Twitter to see where the shuttle was (Sacramento! Golden Gate bridge! Mountain View!) and noticing the roofs of neighbouring building being slowly populated (including the tops of a couple of the sound stages on the lot). A small car fire created a mini diversion during the wait. The tweets started to note sightings in Malibu! Santa Monica! downtown LA! We were surprised by the order of fly over sights. Finally, sighted in West Hollywood! And then the person with the best eyes saw the glint in the distance. It started as a small smudge in the sky over the hills past Universal Studios. It looped over the studio and flew eastward toward Griffith Observatory which is on the hill behind WB Studio. We expected it to then head to Pasadena (nod to JPL) but instead it looped back our way!! Everyone got so excited as it headed towards us flying over Burbank and eventually directly over our heads! The shuttle flew with two jets and the trio reminded me of films of large fish, sharks, whales, etc that trail small cleaner fish behind them. It was absolutely breathtaking, majestic and beautiful.

Here's a link to the photo sequence.