Space Shuttle carrier flies over White Sands

September 20, 2012 | Modified: September 20, 2012 at 8:33 pm
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The space shuttle Endeavour makes its final flight as it flies over the Organ Mountains after doing a fly-by over the White Sands Missile Range and then over the city of Las Cruces, N.M. on its way to Edwards Air Force Base, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Albuquerque Journal, Jim Thompson)

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — The space shuttle Endeavour has made its pass over White Sands Missile Range and NASA's White Sands Test Facility in southern New Mexico.

Endeavour is on a wistful, three-day, cross-country journey to California, where it will spend retirement.

The shuttle left Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas, on top of a Boeing 747 after refueling midday Thursday. It passed over White Sands before heading to Arizona for another flyover.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/QpNenI) school children and hundreds of employees at the missile range witnessed Endeavour's flyover. The craft was low enough for spectators to see the shuttle's markings.

The former director of the White Sands Space Harbor, Robert Mitchell, says it's a bittersweet day.

White Sands was an emergency shuttle landing site. It was used once in 1982.

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