Space Shuttle Endeavour To Fly Over California This Morning

If you want to take full advantage of the last chance you'll ever get to see the space shuttle Endeavour in-flight you'll need to wake up and get going a bit early this morning. Californians in the Los Angeles basin and San Francisco area will need to be out looking for the space shuttle and its 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft at about 8:15 AM PDT.

It's worth noting that time is one hour later than NASA originally planned. The flyover time was shifted by an hour to allow more time for fog over the San Francisco area to dissipate before the flyover. Obviously, if the fog is still heavy, space shuttle fans on the ground will have a hard time seeing the historic last flight of Endeavour.

The shuttle and its 747 will be in the air in the California area for 4 1/2 hours. NASA is encouraging people who see the shuttle to share their sightings and photos using the hash tags #spottedtheshuttle and #OV105. OV105 is Endeavour's official vehicle designation. NASA also has a flickr group where it is encouraging people to share their images.

The shuttle will fly over NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and the Edwards Air Force Base area after takeoff with a low flyby northbound to Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area. Anytime after 9:30 AM PDT the space shuttle should be able to be spotted at locations such as the Bay Area Discovery Museum, Chabot Space and Science Center, the California State Capital, Exploratorium, Lawrence Hall of Science, and Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Starting at 11:30 AM the shuttle will be flying over regional landmarks, including The California Science Center, Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, Disneyland, The Getty Center, Griffith Observatory Los Angele City Hall, the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific Malibu Beach, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, the Queen Mary, Universal Studios an Venice Beach. The shuttle is scheduled to land at about 12:45 PM at the Los Angeles International Airport.