Space Shuttle Endeavor Taking off from Ellington Field

Got a front row seat for the final lift off of Space Shuttle Endeavor from Houston’s Ellington Field.  Parked along hwy 3 at the end of the runway along with several hundred of my friends before sunrise and stood on the railroad tracks just outside the fence line.  The first plane to launch was a commercial jet that took off to the east, in the opposite direction from where I was standing.  Was a little worried that the shuttle would take off in that direction as well until a NASA jet took off towards me.  On que, the 747 with Endeavor attached took off at 7:00 a.m.,  a little before sunrise.  It was very cool to see, to say the least, including feeling the heat off of the 747’s engines.

Since it wasn’t fully light out yet, had to crank up the ISO to 1600 to get enough shutter speed.  Was hoping that it would make a fly-by but alas it didn’t.  It turned south and circled but went well north of Ellington, heading for downtown Houston.

Good bye Endeavor…you should have stayed 😦

Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 100-400 lens, handheld.