Greg Pearson, of the Shreveport Times, captured an incredibly cool image of the Space Shuttle being ferried into Barksdale Air Force Base yesterday; the shot illustrates the Times article about NASA choosing to pit stop in Louisiana to avoid bad weather on the flight back to Cape Canaveral, Florida. Both the picture and a related article about the excitement surrounding the unexpected visit reminded me about the few times that a Shuttle similarly visited San Antonio when I was a kid, and how many people knew exactly when and where the 747 and Shuttle would appear in the sky to try to catch a glimpse. (We even had a decent poor-man’s alternative, too — the 747s used to spend a little time at the Boeing maintenance facility on the edge of the city airport property, and you could drive by to take a look whenever they were in town. Sure, they’re just 747s, but the huge tailfin stabilizers and the NASA logo were pretty cool to see in little ol’ San Antonio!)