DAILY NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER CAPTURES RARE SHUTTLE PHOTO. Byline: Daily News Daily News photographer Gene Blevins took one of the last photos of the space shuttle Columbia before it broke up Saturday. When Columbia crossed into California before dawn, Blevins was at CalTech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory, hundreds of miles north of Los Angeles. Blevins, a freelance photographer who regularly works for the Daily News, had left his Van Nuys home Friday afternoon. He and aerospace photographer William Hartenstein of Burbank stayed overnight in Bishop, then got up at 4 a.m. Saturday for the shuttle's anticipated flyover at 6 a.m. between the Sierra Nevada and the White mountains. They said it was the first time in eight years that a space shuttle with a Florida landing would pass over California on this route, providing a special opportunity for photographs. ``There is nothing you can compare it to. It's a beautiful sight,'' said Hartenstein, who had witnessed a shuttle landing in the same area several years before. As Columbia came into view some 47 miles above them, Blevins began taking a series of shots with digital and traditional-film cameras and noticed something wrong. ``I could see little red pieces sort of breaking away - being left behind,'' Blevins said. ``Then I saw a big red flare coming underneath. I thought, that isn't right.'' When he and Hartenstein learned later in the morning exactly what had happened, they were stunned. ``We were not expecting something like this,'' Blevins said. In addition to appearing in today's Daily News, the picture was sent via The Associated Press to newspapers around the country and local television stations did features Saturday night on Blevins and how he got the photo. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box
Photo: (1 -- color) The space shuttle Columbia passes over the Owens Valley Radio Observatory north of Bishop at 5:54 a.m. PST Saturday. Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.Daily News photographer Gene Blevins took one of the last photos of the space shuttle before it broke apart over Texas. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News (2 -- color) BLEVINS Box: NASA LOSES CONTACT WITH SHUTTLE SOURCES: NASA, Associated Press, Jane's Information Group and Daily News research. Gregg Miller/Staff Artist
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