Local Woman Sees Space Shuttle Landing Up Close

An Edgewood High School alumni was able to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis up close as it was recently ferried home to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Keri Kirby Moore’s husband, United States Air Force Staff Sergeant Joshua Moore served as part of a NASA-led team responsible for ensuring the shuttle, which was forced to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California on May 24, returned safely to Florida on June 2.

Prior to landing in California the shuttle and its crew completed a successful 13-day Hubble Telescope servicing mission before weather prevented the shuttle from landing at the Kennedy Space Center according to NASA officials.

Once at Edwards AFB, crews worked to mount the 151,315-pound shuttle to the top of a modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft.

Sgt. Moore was one of
three USAF forecasters responsible for analyzing weather conditions across the United States and helping to predict the safest route home for the multi-million dollar space craft.

It took the NASA-led team a week to map out a return route that was altered constantly because of changing weather conditions.

The crew which flew 100-miles ahead of the shuttle carrier aircraft in a C-9 pathfinder plane began its journey June 1, from Edwards AFB to Biggs AFB in El Paso, where they spent the night. The following morning it was on to Kelly Field at Lackland AFB in San Antonio to refuel before taking off for Columbus AFB in Mississippi.

The shuttle and ferry flight crew arrived at their final destination at the shuttle landing facility at Kennedy Space Center at 6:53 pm EDT on June 2.

Once back home Sgt. Moore joined fellow forecasters at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station where they continue to prepare for the anticipated June 13 launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.

Mrs. Moore is a 1998 graduate of EHS and the daughter of Gary and Melinda Kirby of Canton and the granddaughter of Bartus and Jean Johnson of Longview.