Night Launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour February 9, 2010
Posted by jtintle in Planets, Space Fotos.Tags: Earth, Florida, International Space Station, Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS-130, Tranquility Module, USA
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Explanation:
Sometimes, the space shuttle launches at night. Pictured above, the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off in yesterday’s early morning hours from Launch Pad 39A in Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA, bound for the International Space Station (ISS). A night launch, useful for reaching the space station easily during some times of the year, frequently creates vivid launch imagery. The shuttle, as pictured above, is framed by an enormous but typical exhaust plume ejected as the shuttle’s powerful rockets began lifting the two million kilogram space bus into Earth orbit. Endeavour’s mission, labeled STS-130, includes the delivery of the Tranquility module to the space station. Tranquility will provide extra room for space station astronauts and includes a large circular set of windows designed to bestow vastly improved views of the Earth, the night sky, and the space station itself.
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Mirror Image September 26, 2008
Posted by jtintle in Planets, Space Fotos.Tags: Earth, Hubble Space Telescope, International Space Station, Kennedy Space Center, Launch Pad 39A, Launch Pad A, NASA, Space Shuttle Atlantis, Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS-125, STS-126, Troy Cryder
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Description:
Space shuttle Atlantis (foreground) sits on Launch Pad A and Endeavour on Launch Pad B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At the left of each shuttle are the open rotating service structures with the payload changeout rooms revealed. The rotating service structures provide protection for weather and access to the shuttle.
For the first time since July 2001, two shuttles are on the launch pads at the same time. Endeavour will stand by at pad B in the unlikely event that a rescue mission is necessary during Atlantis’ upcoming STS-125 mission to repair NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The missions is slated to launch Oct. 10.
After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue spacecraft, it will be moved to Launch Pad 39A for its STS-126 mission to the International Space Station. That flight is targeted for launch Nov. 12.
Image Credit:
NASA/Troy Cryder
The Equal Night December 29, 2007
Posted by jtintle in Planets, Space Fotos.Tags: Earth, Endeavour, equinox, International Space Station, NASA, Space Shuttle Endeavour
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NASA
Description:
The equinox is an astronomical event that marks the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere and spring in the south. Equinox means equal night and with the sun on the celestial equator, Earth dwellers will experience nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Of course, for those in the south, the days will grow longer as the sun marches higher in the sky as summer approaches. A few weeks after the September Equinox of 1994, the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour recorded this image of the sun poised above the Earth’s limb. Glare illuminates Endeavour’s vertical tail (pointing toward the Earth) along with radar equipment in the payload bay.
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