A Tantalising Glimpse

I approach the Discovery outside the Orbiter Processing Facility
The connection between the orbiter's tail and the ground support "elephant" could not be seen during the roll back because we were on the port side. Now we see the starbord side of Discovery.
Discovery's starboard side. We were allowed as close as the bloke with the gun. Note the open door of the Orbiter Processing Facility, ready to recieve the spacecraft.

We quickly clambered aboard the bus at 3 pm as the highway was reopened to traffic and the Visitor Center's tour buses resumed their tours. Our driver now took us on a 270 degrees sweep around the giant Vehicle Assembly Building to the eastern side of the Orbiter Processing Facility, where Discovery was now parked.

During this drive we were able to catch a tantalising view of the crawler transporter bearing the STS 132 stack inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, but the door had not been raised high enough to see the Atlantis itself. I had chosen my seat well, as I was sitting on the left hand side of "Thomas", closest to the building.

Off the bus, we were allowed to approach to within 10 metres of this vehicle which only a few hours before had endured a searing re-entry into the atmosphere after a two week journey into outer space.

Again, lots of photos were taken. Reluctantly we allowed ourselves to be herded back onto "Thomas" to be returned to the News Center.

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