Tips on taking a picture of space shuttle landing...

[fiery360]

I will be at the Edwards Air Force Base tomorrow morning to see the space shuttle landing. I would like to know if anyone can give me a tip/advice please.

The shuttle is scheduled to land early tomorrow. I believe there will be a bleacher set up for the public. From what I heard, the bleacher will be set up on top of the hill overlooking the landing strip. The bleacher will be about 3 - 5 miles away from the landing strip.

I am thinking about taking 20D camera and Sigma APO 70-200mm HSM lens tomorrow. I don't have a teleconverter. I also have Canon 75-300mm USM lens; but not sure if Canon would be better than Sigma.

Any tip would be appreciated. Thanks

[EOSAddict]

I can't really help on the lens front, except to say I expect the SIgma APO would be better quality but you might need the reach of the 300!

Either way, post some pics afterwards! :)

[fiery360]

Well, I got up at 4:30 a.m. to go see the shuttle landing. I do have some pictures - with the space shuttle on the landing strip, but I can't post them - sorry. I was told that I am not supposed to post the picture of space shuttle in maintenance - government secret issue - I am guessing?.

The shuttle has a black marking on the side of the body - it looks like a burned marking of the body from hot air of the atmosphere. There are five or six trucks around the shuttle for the maintenance/check up. Actually, the shuttle looked a lot bigger than I expected.

I couldn't get a picture of shuttle in the sky because it landed around 5:10 a.m. before the sunrise. I did see a bright two lights in the sky after a big sonic boom sound though. The shuttle landed very soon right after the sonic boom.

It was all worth it though...