I've watched many launches on TV.. and have never been lucky enough to see a landing... but living here in SoCal have heard more then once the twin sonic booms of re-entry!
Having previously lived in SoCal, I do remember hearing some of the sonic booms when the shuttles used to land regularly at Edwards AFB (we lived in Palmdale and/or Quartz Hill during that time period).
Also, on one of our visits back to California after we moved to Ohio, one of the shuttle program's top brass attended my mom's large church in Lancaster, and heard about our pending visit, and we were fortunate enough for that person to ask my mom if we would be interested in free VIP passes to attend the landing of one of the shuttles (I think it may have been Atlantis?) at Edwards.
Of course, we took her up on the offer, and aside from having to rise at dark-something-thirty in order to be be in Mojave by, what was it, 5:00 or 6:00 a.m.?, that was one of our special memories. We got to drive our car past all the line of incoming vehicles to a special parking area up front, then hang out with the other invited celebrities (including one TV celebrity) in a special room with food, drinks, etc., while waiting, and then got to go with those same people to a special seating area up front (the equivalent of watching a football game from the 50-yeard line down front), when the shuttle finally was approaching for its landing. We all heard the sonic boom, of course; but watching it land in person was quite special.
Another time, my step-sister, who also worked for the space shuttle program's maintenance division at the time, got us into the shuttle hangar in Palmdale (it was Atlantis again), and we got to walk along the temporary walkway/railing set up all around the shuttle in order to do routine maintenance on it. While they didn't let us inside the shuttle (darn!), we could look in the main entry door and see the inside of it from just a yard or two away. We also got to see a close-up look at the underbelly of that shuttle during the same visit, including the heat shields (my step-sister showed us and let us hold one of the extra heat shield pieces, while explaining how they were built, what they were built of, and how unimaginably delicate they are -- it's nothing short of amazing that they can even take the rigors of reentry, but somehow they do). Also, seeing the rear engines up close and personal is breathtaking. The whole shuttle is huge, and it always struck me as amazing that something like that can even fly (but of course, it can).
CaT
PS - Wagga - Loved the documentary video above on the life of Discovery. Thanks for posting it.
