posted 04-13-2006 11:58 PM               

After arriving in Lancaster in the middle of the night, I made my way over to the Dryden Flight Research Center early the next morning, April 14. The endless, straight desert roads were a bit intimidating for a European, but all went well and I reached the legendary base in time for the landing, which was planned for about 10:20 local time. After some looking around for a good spot, I was directed by public affairs to the other side of the base, which meant taking the dirt road along the north edge of the lakebed. That took longer than I thought and I was affraid I was going to miss the landing, but just in time I spotted a row of vehicles parked along the edge of the runway on the lakebed.

I parked my car at the end of the line, grabbed my camera and right at that moment someone yelled: "There she is!" Looking to my right I saw Columbia approaching very fast, escorted by a pair of T-38 jets.

It all happened very fast. The formation rushed by and I could barely point my camera and start snapping pictures.

posted 04-14-2006 12:00 AM               

It was over in a matter of seconds. Columbia was home! I started making my way back to the other side of the base, but so was the rest of the press corps that was parked along the runway. The convoy produced an enormous dustcloud and you could hardly see a few feet. It was madness. To make matters worse my rental car broke down and I had to get out of the way of the mad rush of vehicles. I alerted a highway patrol cop on a motorcycle and he said he would radio for help. But after the rush was over and the dust settled, I was able to restart my car and limp back to the press site.

Later I saw John Young exit Columbia and make his now-famous dance around the vehicle, unable to contain his excitement. Back at the PAO-area there was a press conference by Deke Slayton, who was manager of the Shuttle orbital test program. In one of the restrooms I was standing next to astronaut Ron McNair in his blue flightsuit, who threw his parachute in a corner before taking a leak! There was an official welcome for the crew, but the car-trouble prevented me from soaking it all in. I barely made it back to Lancaster, where I traded in the car for one that was trouble-free.

I hung around the area for two more weeks, waiting for Columbia to be flown back to KSC. I visited Rockwell in Palmdale (where I saw Enterprise and Challenger), JLP in Pasadena (where fellow-Dutchman Jurrie van de Woude worked) and interviewed X-15 and lifting body legend Milt Thompson. Then on April 27 I stood alongside the runway when Columbia took off on the back of the 747. What an impressive pair!

Later that afternoon I flew to JSC in Houston, where I spent a few days going through the photo files. In one month time I had seen some pretty unbelievable things. Space history was made and I was there. This is something I will tell my grandchildren.

posted 04-14-2006 04:13 AM               

Regards,

posted 04-14-2006 06:30 AM               

I arrived so late at the scene that I did not have time to put the telephoto lens on my camera. I did make a series of photos, but in those Columbia is only a white speck because I still had the wide-angle lens on my camera. The photos above were made from exactly the same position, but by a photographer using a telephoto lens, as I should have done!