visibility Similar

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Space shuttle Discovery leaps from Launch Pad 39A atop twin towers of flame as it races toward space on its STS-124 mission to the International Space Station. Launch was on time at 5:02 p.m. EDT. At left is the fixed service structure with the 80-foot lightning mast on top. At far left is the open rotating service structure. Discovery is making its 35th flight. The STS-124 mission is the 26th in the assembly of the space station. It is the second of three flights launching components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. The shuttle crew will install Kibo's large Japanese Pressurized Module and its remote manipulator system, or RMS. The 14-day flight includes three spacewalks. Photo courtesy of Scott Andrews KSC-08pd1571

STS-133 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

STS-129 - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

STS-133 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

STS-125 - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

STS-134 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

STS-129 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

STS-134 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

STS-133 - LAUNCH - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

code Related

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis / STS-129 Mission

description

Summary

STS129-S-044 (16 Nov. 2009) --- Space Shuttle Atlantis and its six-member STS-129 crew head toward Earth orbit and rendezvous with the International Space Station. Liftoff was on time at 2:28 p.m. (EST) on Nov. 16, 2009 from launch pad 39A at NASA?s Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Onboard are astronauts Charles O. Hobaugh, commander; Barry E. Wilmore, pilot; along with Leland Melvin, Mike Foreman, Robert L. Satcher Jr. and Randy Bresnik, all mission specialists. Atlantis will deliver two Express Logistics Carriers to the station, the largest of the shuttle's cargo carriers, containing 15 spare pieces of equipment including two gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm. Atlantis will return to Earth a station crew member, Nicole Stott, who has spent more than two months aboard the orbiting laboratory. STS-129 is slated to be the final space shuttle Expedition crew rotation flight.

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.

label_outline

Tags

johnson space center launch atlantis sts space shuttle space shuttle liftoff high resolution nasa
date_range

Date

1960 - 1969
collections

in collections

Space Shuttle Program
place

Location

create

Source

NASA
link

Link

https://images.nasa.gov/
copyright

Copyright info

Public Domain Dedication (CC0)

label_outline Explore Space Shuttle Liftoff, Johnson Space Center, Atlantis

STS-40 Spacelab Life Science 1 (SLS-1) module in OV-102's payload bay (PLB)

STS-132 ATLANTIS ROLLOUT FROM VAB TO PAD 39A 2010-2919

The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster is lowered toward a workstand in Kennedy Space Center's Vertical Processing Facility. The IUS will be mated with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and then undergo testing to validate the IUS/Chandra connections and check the orbiter avionics interfaces. Following that, an end-to-end test (ETE) will be conducted to verify the communications path to Chandra, commanding it as if it were in space. With the world's most powerful X-ray telescope, Chandra will allow scientists from around the world to see previously invisible black holes and high-temperature gas clouds, giving the observatory the potential to rewrite the books on the structure and evolution of our universe. Chandra is scheduled for launch July 22 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, on mission STS-93 KSC-99pp0619

A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew helps escort

STS-335 STS-135 ATLANTIS ENGINE-1 MOVE FROM ENGINE SHOP TO OPF-1 2010-5806

STS112-376-017 - STS-112 - Earth Observations taken by the STS-112 crew

STS066-106-062 - STS-066 - Earth observations during STS-66

S125E006825 - STS-125 - Survey views of the FSS and SLIC in the Payload Bay of the Shuttle Atlantis

S122E005006 - STS-122 - External Tank after separation from Atlantis during the STS-122 Mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Spotlights illuminate the United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy rocket that will launch NASA’s twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission from Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for 9:08:52 a.m. EDT Sept. 10. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem around the moon to precisely measure and map variations in the moon's gravitational field. The mission will provide the most accurate global gravity field to date for any planet, including Earth. This detailed information will reveal differences in the density of the moon's crust and mantle and will help answer fundamental questions about the moon's internal structure, thermal evolution, and history of collisions with asteroids. The aim is to map the moon's gravity field so completely that future moon vehicles can safely navigate anywhere on the moon’s surface. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/grail. Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph and Don Kight KSC-2011-6907

Photograph of a Rocket being Lifted onto the Launch Structure to be Prepared for Launch at the Wallops Island Launch Area in Virginia

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft Launch Event at Goddard Space Flight Center

Topics

johnson space center launch atlantis sts space shuttle space shuttle liftoff high resolution nasa