NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) high above Earth (dial up!!)

[Swede]

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Wow.

Breathtaking.

[myrna minx]

2. Wow.

Amazing photo.

[Bluebear]

3. Stunning!

[Razoor]

4. awesome photo

really breathtaking!!

[mattvermont]

5. who is taking the photo? nt

[Chichiri]

10. Probably the ISS. n/t

[Arctic Dave]

6. You can actually see the road system and farming lands.

I guess people are wrong when they say make can't affect the earth

[cbayer]

7. We just saw the ISS and the Atlantis above Los Angeles.

Very cool!


You can get the schedule here.

http://esa.heavens-above.com/esa/iss_step1_3.asp?CountryID=US

[lob1]

8. That's some glove compartment on the shuttle.

[marybourg]

9. Just saw them pass over central AZ. Beautiful. nt.

[Orrex]

11. Incredibly cool.

What part of Earth is visible in the background?

[jimlup]

12. Hard to believe the era of the shuttles is almost over.

The shuttle concept certainly has it's problems. Primary to these are the solid rocket motors strapped to a fragile external tank of highly volatile fuel.

I'm not convinced that the Bush approved replacement vehicle is viable as a replacement and I'm certainly sure that sending humans to mars is very bad idea indeed right now.