Boom

So I was sitting watching football yesterday, when there was a loud noise and everything vibrated for a split-second. I thought, "another earthqauke?" - albeit a very, very short one? It seemed more like a huge far off explosion though. And indeed it was in some sense.

I went online (what did we do before the internet? walk around in a never-ending questioning stupor???) and found the cause. The space shuttle Endeavour had to land at Edwards Air Force base outside of LA due to bad weather in Florida, and a sonic boom could be heard from Bakersfield all the way down to Mexico. The cost of landing here instead of in Florida? About $1.8 million to piggyback the shuttle on top of a special 747.

Click here for some more info about the shuttle landing and the mission they were on.

The most interesting part:

The shuttle crew also conducted four spacewalks to clear metal shavings from a solar wing rotary joint at the space station. The joint had been jammed for more than a year and hampered energy production at the orbiting outpost.

Initial tests indicated the repairs on the joint were successful. Overshadowing the clean and lube job, however, was the loss of a $100,000 tool bag. Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper let go of the bag during the first spacewalk; it wasn't tied down and floated away.

A $100,000 tool bag?! Wow, was it Louis Vuitton?