Space shuttle Endeavour wows Venice Beach spectators

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Space shuttle Endeavour wows Venice Beach spectators

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uploaded by Sharon Raiford Bush

Somewhere over the rainbow in the distant future, Aaron Hanna will take his son or daughter to the California Science Center, where NASA's retired space shuttle Endeavour will remain on display for more than two centuries.

He'll point up to the imperialistic orbiter and tell his offspring a true story about the picture-perfect day his doting mother and innovative father took him to the Venice Beach pier to bid farewell to the beloved spacecraft that completed a total of 25 honorable missions before it was placed to final rest.

Aaron will describe how his dad, with lively interest and controlling possession of the mind, captured by memory and high-tech photography, a thumb-printed leaf of American history that took place on Autumn's eve.

He may talk about how the majesty of the distant Santa Monica Mountains and azure sky created an ideal backdrop for the highly-anticipated arrival of Endeavour, as it rode piggyback atop a modified 747 that sliced like a butter knife through a thin curtain of wispy clouds and dissipating fog hovering over the Pacific Ocean's serenity.

But that time remains a long way off because Aaron, the son of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) lead test engineer Andrew Hanna, is only 16 months old.

To read more and see historic images captured by Aaron's father, follow this link.