Space Shuttle Endeavour visits Austin

The shuttle Endeavour left Florida on its way to Los Angeles where it will be housed at the California Science Center and on the way it has made a few stops and flybys. It stopped over in Houston last night and I knew that a re-fueling stop in El Paso was on the schedule, so I was hoping that it would make a fly over Austin as well. And it turned out that they had scheduled a low pass over the Capitol, which I knew we'd be able to see really well from my office building on the UT campus. So (even though I was up on the telescope last night) I decided to come in early and try to get a picture. Funny enough, the ones I got of it over the Capitol and city weren't all that great, but as it flew past the UT Tower, I got this shot:



(Click over to Flickr for the larger version)

I posted it to Twitter and copied the tweet to a couple of local news organizations, thinking they might want to use it for online galleries. But of course, as things often do on the internet, it took off and I've been flooded with replies, emails, Facebook comments, etc! I got a call from the Director of Public Affairs at UT and they will be handling any of the licensing that may arise. He said they were going to contact the AP (!!) so who knows? Since I took the photo at work it really is UT's to do with as they wish, I just want credit (which I know they will honor) - I can't wait to see where the image pops up!

Still kind of blown away by the reaction... And ultimately I'm just really happy that I got to see the shuttle!!