Look a plane! or 2?

I've never been into planes or aerospace, but maybe today was the day to become a fan. Like many in the DC area, I was able to see the space shuttle Discovery's final (piggyback) flight to Dulles airport this morning.

Last year, I was in a plane on the way to Orlando during Discovery's final real mission. Our pilot kept making announcements related to the changing status of the liftoff, and finally he announced that Discovery was in fact going to launch while we were in the air. Half the passengers ran to the plane windows and starting screaming (happily) at seeing the shuttle from the air, but I unfortunately was on the wrong side of the plane. Argh. I'm surprised that (insert least favorite airline here) hasn't started pricing seats based on the likelihood of seeing NASA aircraft. Argh again. I probably just gave them a good idea.

That tiny dot is much larger in real life.

Today, however, was different. I had honestly forgotten about Discovery until I heard a coworker randomly yelling this morning. After her second or third scream I realized what was causing the hysteria. At this point, my brain began working in slow motion....look out window.....find camera....in phone...oh no... I can never remember how to use the camera phone under pressure...no time to ask for help...? Fortunately I did remember how to take a picture in those few seconds. Discovery, to its credit, looked exactly like the news said - like 2 planes on top of each other. Cool, but also kind of strange.

Slightly better.

I realized later that my photo was so blurry that it looked a little fake. Since a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words, I decided to write about it and see if I could come close to equalizing the effects of bad photography. If nothing else, this post allowed me to laugh again at myself, at my successful quick reaction to a weird photo op and to the slight irony of a second chance to see a final flight.