The space shuttle Discovery, piggyback atop a specially modified 747, makes a stop in Amarillo to refuel the plane carrying it.
Video at Amarillo.com
Some great photos at Panhandle Skies.
September 21, 2009
Pit Stop in Amarillo
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2 comments:
Wow, right in your proverbial backyard! How cool is that?
The shuttle has stopped here before; a quick search shows one time back in 2007, but I sure thought it was more.
The main runway is 13,502 feet long, one of the longest commercial runways in the US. Before the base closed, it was meant to be used by SAC bombers and still is used by the military. (when I went to school at TSTI, the trade school sited in the old air base buildings, they used to do touch-and-go landings all the time with tankers and huge aircraft and it would rattle the windows in the classrooms as they flew very close overhead)
The last time elle came over, I watched her flight come in, one of those Fokker puddle jumpers, and it didn't take but a quarter of the runway to land. My dad used to tell a story about landing there in a Cessna and having the controller chastise him for having to taxi so far to the ramp.
The airport is named after Rick Husband, the commander of the shuttle Columbia which broke up over Texas back in 2003.
Thanks for posting!
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