Remove this ad

Amazing Image: ISS Crew Captures Shuttle Atlantis’ Last Brilliant Trip Through the Atmosphere

by Nancy Atkinson on July 21, 2011

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter

Atlantis' fiery final return home, as seen by the crew of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA_Johnson Twitter feed.

Simply incredible. Atlantis on its way home taken by the Expedition 28 crew of the space station. Via the NASA_Johnson Twitpic page.

Remove this ad

About

Nancy Atkinson is Universe Today's Senior Editor. She also is the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast and works with the Astronomy Cast and 365 Days of Astronomy podcasts. Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador.

Tagged as: Space Flight, Space Shuttle, Space Station, STS-135

  • Anonymous

    This is awesome

  • David Syzdek

    Way cool.

  • Torbjörn Larsson

    If you catch a firefly
    and keep it in a jar
    You may find that
    you have lost
    A tiny star.

    If you let it go then,
    back into the night,
    You may see it
    once again
    Star bright.

    [Lilian Moore]

  • Ints Kesans

    I am confused. Trajectory of Atlantis seems to be a bit off the ISS flight path. Shouldn’t it look more towards ISS?

    • Anonymous

      What do you mean with off?

      • Ints Kesans

        I mean, there is very short launch window, during which station’s flight path is directly over the launch pad. Within few degrees, I guess. Once cleared the tower, shuttle performs a roll maneuver. At that point, just about 20 seconds after launch, shuttle is already in the plane of orbit and it can’t be changed much. The only thing done from here is acceleration, so perigee of that particular orbit move out of center of Earth. In that very nice picture I see, that trajectory of Atlantis is not directly towards station. Why so?

        • Anonymous

          Because it is going down, not up.

        • Anonymous

          Because it is going down, not up.

    • Joseph Piatt

      IIRC, their trajectory is rather straight-line once they hit atmosphere, so they have to begin their approach already aligned with the runway.

Previous post:

Next post: