At 10:37 a.m. last Friday, students and teachers come pouring out of their classrooms while the sky was filled with the sound of four Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines.
The scene was one of true astonishment and pride as they watched Space Shuttle Endeavor make her last flight strapped on top of a modified Boeing 747-100.
“Everyone was really excited about [the fly over] and really impressed, and it was really cool,” junior Katy Burns said.
This Friday morning was truly one to be remembered as NASA flew the shuttle to its final destination in Los Angeles, where it will be placed on display in the science museum in October.
“I’ll definitely be going to L.A. the weekend [the space shuttle exhibit] opens, and I’m going to go see it and touch it,” science teacher Lisa Chochrum said.
The space shuttle and its F-18 escort passed directly over the school shortly after making a low pass over Moffett Field at about 1,500 feet. It then continued to fly toward Monterey and finally touched down at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at 12:49 p.m.
This fly-over had a lot of meaning for many students and teachers, since many grew up following the space program, and at one time or another, many must have had the dream of becoming an astronaut.
“[The flyover] really made my decade, because we were watching the live Twitter feed in class, and I really wanted to go to Moffett and go see it,” Cochrum said. “It’s just that once-in-a lifetime opportunity and to have it fly right over [SHS] was just really special.”