This adventure began with a bit of a scare. As Jessica and I drove up Interstate 15 (towards Edwards AFB), with Ed a little ways behind us, the car was hit by a blue paint ball. I have no idea where it came from. The impact was loud enough to startle me into pulling over at the next exit. I didn't know what it was, initially. It wasn't until I stopped the car and did a walk-around inspecton that I saw the fresh blue splat.

We got to the Rogers Dry Lake public viewing area on the afternoon of March 19, 1989. Once again, we got there a day early. But this time, the long front row of the enormous hard desert parking lot was full. We were delegated to the second row. Still, we were in a great spot. Ed and I quickly set up our familiar "base camp".

The image below is another early high resolution "G Scott Panorama" montage of eight seperate images. If the image does not display when selected, you may need to refresh your cache. Rebooting usually fixes this IE6 anomoly. This is because the file size is rather large (783K). It is worth a look at full size, though.

Below are some of the shots I took as the last of the light left the afternoon sky. It is definitely a surreal experience, being out there on the dry lake bed. The quiet, gently interupted by incoming jets is comforting. The arrays of colors (morning, afternoon and evening) are endless. But mostly, the underlying history of this area can be felt. It is like being on holy ground.

As is typical in the desert at the end of winter, once the sun leaves the sky, the teperatures rapidly start to plummet. Before too, long, Ed and were cold and huddling around a small coleman lantern (suspended under a camera tripod). We took turns cruising the bikes up and down the long parking lot, and enjoyed the familiar subdued revelry of the growing crowd. When we had seen all of the vendor's wares of pins, patches and T-shirts, we played around with the red filtered fish-eye lens - trying to capture ourselves with the timer as we waited out the long night before the shuttle's early morning arrival.

With the bright moon high in the western sky, and high clouds providing an eerie filter, the night time scene became even more visually stunning. These long exposure shots barely capture the sight as we saw it.

With Ed sacked out in the back of the Oldsmobile, and Jessica sleeping soundly, I snapped a few shots as dawn approached. With the fresh light of a new day, the security choppers stepped up their patrols. The Hueys were lovely, silhoutted against the gorgeous colors of dawn's early light.

With the sun now in the early morning sky, the gathered throng began waking up. These pictures were shot before the crowd began moving to the fence line. This actually occured slowly, and we had a spot staked out with lawn chairs and the camera tripod.

Below is another 8-image "G Scott Panorama" of Edwards AFB and Dryden Flight Research Center - far across the vast lake bed in the very early morning light. This image file is rather large (924K), but it affords a great view of HUGE airbase profile on the lake bed.

I had a camera full of film and shot a sequence of 21 photos of the landing. These are, I think, the best photos I shot of a shuttle in the air, approaching the runways of Edwards AFB.