On its historic tour across California on Friday, Endeavour skimmed past Bakersfield. Some were lucky enough to see it.
Many people in Tehachapi saw the shuttle, but sightings were rare in Bakersfield. But, for those who saw it, it was a spectacular sight of history flying by.
"It's larger than life when you see it," said Dian Verrell of Bakersfield. "Seeing it come across Bakersfield was totally unexpected."
Verrell was waiting for it all morning.
"I grabbed my cup of coffee, got my camera set up, and I had the window open and I heard this 'rrrrrr' coming through, and I thought 'oh my gosh that's it.' So I got my camera and got the shot as it was going slowly across the sky."
Verrell lives in the northeast near Bakersfield Country Club. She said the shuttle zipped past her house around 9 a.m., a little later than the expected time of arrival at 8:45 a.m.
"I was really excited. It was really cool to see," said Verrell.
Some residents thought airplanes with contrails were the shuttle, but Verrell says it flew much lower.
"I expected it to be almost directly overhead, but it was more an across visual line of sight," said Verrell. "It was not that high in the sky considering what I thought it would be."
She says she knew right away it was the shuttle.
"I knew exactly what it was because a plane wouldn't have another plane on top of it," said Verrell.
Although the sighting only lasted a few seconds, she said in those moments she knew she was part of something big.
"It's just kind of a part of history. It's historical," said Verrell.
Students at Endeavour Elementary School in Bakersfield took time out of class to view the shuttle going by.
If you have any good pictures of the shuttle flying by, e-mail them to us at 17news@kget.com.
