Photos: Readers Share Memories Of NASA's Final Shuttle Launches

With the three-year anniversary this week of STS-135 -- the final launch of the program -- we invited readers of Universe Today to send in your pictures of shuttle experiences. We've been spoiled with several entries into our Flickr pool, which we've posted below.

Also, noted space tweep Remco Timmermans generously provided us with dozens of pictures, of which we chose just a few to represent his experiences at STS-135. That picture at the top gave us goosebumps. Down below you can see more of Remco's shots (thank you!) and some of the best other shots that readers sent in.

Thanks also to numerous other Universe Today contributors who posted pictures to our Flickr pool. We'll include some samples below. Nathanial Burton-Bradford who provided a 3-D picture of Atlantis lifting off on its last flight (use red and blue glasses to view properly):

Robert Karma provided several stunning pictures of STS-131, which featured Discovery, including one showing the shuttle rising high in the sky beside the American flag, and another with the moment the solid rocket boosters separated from Discovery:

Also, thanks to Ralph Hightower for providing this image of STS-135 on Flickr: