Final Shuttle Flight

[VladTepes]

A fellow on one of my gun forums works at JSC.

Just completed working the last Shuttle "On Orbit" and "Landing" Sims for STS135 at the Johnson Space Center (JSC).

Last Shuttle launch will be July 8, 2011.

Just a really nice Shuttle photo many do not get to see.

[THE BOOGER]

Great pic, sad to to see them retire but there are some big plans around from private companys to keep space flight going. The company that has US contracts to deliver to the ISS has plans for a rocket almost as big as the atlas v

falcon heavy http://www.spacex.com/falcon_heavy.php

[stallie]

Great shot, but the angle and the relative sizes don't look real?

My two little boys 2+4 are obsessed with the space shuttle. We watched the last couple of launches on streamed on Nasa TV and would always look at the live feed from the ISS.

For those interested in watching the shuttle go overhead - or any other satellite for that matter - go to Heavens-Above Home Page and put in your lat/lon then click on the appropriate satellite.

It shows how bright they will be in magnitude. Magnitude is back to front (brighter is lesser number) but as a guide - Venus when bright in the morning/evening is -5, Sirius the brightest star in the sky is -1 then the limit of the human eye on a pitch black night would be a star of about +6. Basically, anything Magnitude of 2, 1, 0, -1, -2 -3 etc will be visible from the city.

It's really bright when the ISS goes overhead and the solar panels are turned.