Space Shuttle Launch Pictures

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Here are some amazing space shuttle launch pictures. You can make any of these images into your computer desktop wallpaper. Just click on an image to enlarge it, and then choose “Set as Desktop Background”.

Endeavour Lifts Off!

This image shows the space shuttle Endeavor as it launched at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the STS-126 mission on November 14, 2008.

A Huge Day in Space History

This image of the space shuttle Columbia as it pioneered the space shuttle missions to space on April 12, 1981. The STS-1 mission is the first US-manned spaceflight.

A Light in the Sky

Here’s a stunning picture of the Hayabusa spacecraft of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The Hayabusa spacecraft was sent to space in 2003 to study the asteroid Itokawa.

Atlantis Breaks Through the Clouds. Credit: NASA.

This image of the space shuttle Atlantis emerging above the clouds during its launch on November 16, 2009 for the STS-129 mission to the International Space Station. Atlantis is one of the three functional space shuttle orbiters of NASA.

Discovery's Dawn

This is an image of the space shuttle Discovery getting ready for the STS-128 mission at Launch Pad 39A located at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. This image was captured on August 28, 2009.

We have written many articles about space shuttles for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the space shuttle, and here’s an article about the space shuttle Columbia.

If you’d like more information on the shuttle, here’s a link to NASA’s Official space shuttle page, and here’s the homepage for NASA’s Human Spaceflight.

We’ve recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about the space shuttle. Listen here, Episode 127: The US Space Shuttle.