I was there - with tears in my eyes...
Yup.
It was my first/last/only Shuttle launch I watched in-person. An incredible experience.
A bit of necrothread, but I was able to find a copy of my landing video and reup it, somehow I locked the original video and don't remember the login. Next is to try and find a backup copy of the STS-134 launch.
Long story, but I ended up covering the final two Shuttle missions as a full-on journalist, and by being a polite pain in the arse I ended up in the group standing by the VASI for the final landing of the program. I was told to stay out of the way of the real journalists, which I was happy to do. Thank you, NASA PAO and the NASA Security team for allowing me on the bus.I was sweating bullets because my video camera would not focus, luckily it kicked in right at the last second. I kept looking up at the sky expecting to see the nav lights of Atlantis until I realized Duh... it doesn't have any. Kind of a bummer but understandable that NASA took the first landing opportunity in the pre-dawn, they just wanted to get it on the ground and over with, but it also robbed everyone of seeing that magnificent sight one final time.
If you listen closely you can hear the commentary and rush of air as Atlantis goes through the pre-flare, flare, and landing. The adventure is shared here: https://sts134launch.blogspot.com/ Yes, I sound a little... exuberant in the video. Do you blame me?