09/18/2023
A boy on horseback stops to watch as the Space Shuttle Enterprise is towed across Antelope Valley on January 31, 1977. It was being taken 36 miles from Rockwell International in Palmdale to the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base where it would conduct operational testing.
Keep in mind that when this was taken, no shuttle had ever been launched into space. That wouldn't happen until 1981. So, to this kid, this is just some funny-looking plane being hauled through the desert atop a 90-wheel transport in a 20 vehicle convoy. It must have seemed so far-fetched to learn what it was.
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Photo by Art Rogers of the LA Times, archived at
I’ve posted this one before, way back in November of 2020, but it’s one of my favorite photos and I think it deserves another go.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxLwtLAvAbV/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
