Discovery Employees Hope for a View of Shuttle Fly Over

I came to work at the Discovery headquarters in Silver Spring, MD (like I do every morning), sat down at my desk and started going through my inbox. Right away, I noticed a company-wide email inviting all Discovery employees to attend a rooftop party to watch the sky for a glimpse of the shuttle Discovery fly over. How cool is that?!? Needless to say, I started making my way up to the roof.

This place apparently has a ridiculously huge number of space enthusiasts working here. It seemed like more than half of our entire staff was there, shoulder-to-shoulder, and anxiously staring over the railing at the skyline. Beth Caldwell, from our Media Services department, managed to snap this photo of this morning's shuttle party.

Some quick background for those who may not have heard: Space shuttle Discovery flew over the Washington, D.C. area this morning on its way to Dulles International Airport. From there, the shuttle is headed to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

As it turned out, we only saw the shuttle for a fraction of a second before it disappeared behind a few obnixiously-located buildings across the street. Luckily, it seems there were a ton of people that managed to get great photos of the shuttle before it was too late. Another Media Services colleague, Lina Clark, took this fantastic pic from the roof with a zoom lens and some other fansy-schmansy camera equipment.

We've collected a ton of fantastic photos from both Discovery/SCIENCE employees and others around the Washington, D.C. area. Thanks to everyone who sent in their pictures. Check out the photo gallery here!

Comments

[Joy Montefusco]

This was such a fun start to the work day here at SCI!

[Andi Grill]

Correction! A bunch of coworkers have informed me that the shuttle actually passed by our building THREE TIMES! I went back inside after the first one because I thought it was over. MAN!! >.<

[Gospyro]

Beautiful, but PAINFULLY sad. Now we are completely dependent on the Russians, and are all but out of the manned exploration of space.

[Oleg]

Don't worry, Elan Musk will save us.

[ChristaPet]

As it turned out, we only saw the shuttle for a fraction of a second before it disappeared

[Monster Beats By dr. dre]

I add another one, colorless eyewear.

[Thomas Bosco]

Beautiful share,we can catch the photograph of shuttle before it disappeared behind a few obnixiously-located buildings across the street. Of course we can collect great photo from that place.