Onlookers get their Endeavour flyby: ‘For me, this is like a bucket list thing’

As the space shuttle Endeavor flew by the Hollywood sign around 12:10 p.m., onlookers at the Griffith Observatory -- some of whom had been waiting since 6 a.m. -- hooped and hollered.

“That’s the money shot,” said Larry Unser in from St. Louis to visit his son in L.A. “I almost hate taking (pictures) because then you miss it.”

Joan Pappas from Arcadia didn’t get a shot of the shuttle when it first approached. She pressed the wrong button and turned off her digital camera.

But she didn’t have to wait long for the 747 carrying the shuttle to circle back as it swooped around the observatory once again seconds later.

“I would not have missed this for anything,” said Pappas, who like others had waited for hours to witness the historic event.

Michelle Espinoza and her friend Drake Caudillo of Whittier had to park their motorcycle on Los Feliz Boulevard and hike 45 minutes up to the observatory because of the crowded parking.

“It was totally worth it,” said Caudillo. “For me, this is like a bucket list thing.”

At first they thought they weren’t going to see the fly-by because of fog, but Espinoza got a shotof it in front of the Hollywood sign.

“I’m going to go home and print it,” Espinoza said.

-- Brittany Levine, Times Community News, at Griffith Observatory

Follow Brittany Levine on Google+ or Twitter: @brittanylevine

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FULL COVERAGE: Endeavour: Final Journey

Don’t forget to tweet your photos and observations to City Editor Jason Wells: @jasonbretwells and @lanow with the hashtag #SpotTheShuttle or #Endeavour, and include where you are.