Working at Washington Dulles International Airport and getting to know the people there for seven years has its benefits... especially when something big and historic flies in. Not only was I lucky enough to be present for all of NASA's operations at Dulles involving Space Shuttles Discovery and Enterprise along with the 747 SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft), but I was specifically chosen by airport management to be the official event photographer. Dulles held its first "Fifty for 50th" drawing, which brought 50 lucky civilians onto the threshold of the runway during the SCA and Discovery's flyovers and touchdown. Some of the people pictured are these participants.
Furthermore, during my coverage of the events, my photography caught the eyes of NASA's SCA Pilots and Flight Engineers as well as some NASA Staff Photographers, all of whom have become fans of my work. This resulted not only in continued correspondence and meeting in person with NASA crew-members (along with receiving some awesome, rare transport mission memorabilia), but also the invitation to visit NASA's operations in New York at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where I met with more of the SCA crew-members onboard the SCA itself, and was invited to also stay for Enterprise's demating. Due to other photography obligations the next day in Washington, DC, I unfortunately couldn't stay in New York to see the demating, which they were preparing for during my visit.
All of this took place in a whirlwind of a month's time, and here, finally, is a sampler of the resulting photos.
The entire set of photography of my NASA coverage (485 photos), from start to finish, can be seen on my Flickr by clicking here.
Some images are available for print purchase on my website here.
